The New Normal
by Malmo722
Summary: Sookie, Eric, Tara and Alcide are what's left of the massively successful rock group Perihelion after frontman Bill not only quits the band but ends his ten year relationship with Sookie. The remaining members head to a secluded island to try to put the pieces together professional, personally and romantically. AU/AH/Sooric. Angst/Music/Rated M for later sexy stuffs and swearing.
1. The Split

**A/N: So I was watching this movie called **_**Rock My World**_** last night and it gave me an idea for a fan fiction. It is about music like almost all my other fan fictions because I love music a lot. This will be my side project until I finish my other True Blood story, Summer Nights. I****'****ll post randomly. **

**If anyone wants to be my beta please feel free to contact me. **

**So I have no idea what I am doing with this but I plan to have fun with it. The bolded text are news articles, Eric's POV are flashbacks and Sookie is present day. **

**I hope you all enjoy!**

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**[Posted to TMZ .com]**

**Tuesday, January 6, 2015 - 10:42 am - The rumours which have been swirling for months are true, Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse, members of rock group Perihelion have split. A representative of the band confirmed the split early this morning nearly three and a half months after Sookie was spotted without her engagement ring. **

**The couple began dating shortly after ****Perihelion**** hit it big ten years ago and had been engaged for the past four years. **

**There have been reports that Bill has been getting cozy with pop starlet Willa Burrell but hasn't been seen in public for almost two months, while Sookie hasn't been spotted since the outing which caused the rumours. Their band mates Eric Northman, Tara Thornton and Alcide Herveaux have also been incognito and have refused to comment on the matter. **

**While the end of their relationship may excite Bill Compton fan girls all over the world this split could mean the end of ****Perihelion****. No statement has been released regarding the future of one of the worlds biggest bands but we can only hope Bill and Sookie can keep it together for the music.**

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I exhaled deeply and threw my phone across the room as I finished reading the hundredth article published that morning. All of them were almost exactly the same; 'Bookie is DONE!' 'Bookie have SPLIT!' 'Is Willa Burrell to Blame for the End of Bookie?' 'Women of the World Rejoice - Bill Compton is Finally Single!'.

That was our stupid celebrity couple name, Bookie. I disliked it before and I fucking hated now. The bands publicist told me the rumours that were floating around were more damaging than the truth and it was best to finally admit that Bill and I had separated. The problem was that wasn't even the truth. Bill and I hadn't separated, he left, he tore himself away from our relationship, away from our band and just disappeared. If it was easier for people to call it a separation then let them call it that but it didn't change the fact it was a lie.

I could hear the paparazzi outside, those vultures benefiting off of my misery. I could hear their feet shuffling, their phones ringing and beeping, the occasional laugh, the sound of their equipment calibrating. I could smell their cigarettes, their cheap cologne, their fast food lunches. Even though I was ten stories up I could hear and smell it all.

The door flew open and the smell of coffee took the place of the men down below. "Up! Up, up, up!" Nora cried in her perky British accent. She placed the coffee on a table and threw open the blinds. "We can't wallow in self misery forever, Sookie." Her high heels clicked against the dark hard wood floor before I felt her weight on my king sized bed.

I threw the grey, 1020 thread count sheets over my head and turned away from her, groaning. "Actually, I can do whatever I want." I croaked, realizing I hadn't spoken in a few days. All the alcohol was doing a number on my voice, I'd have to cut it out of my diet if I wanted to continue to sing.

"Actually you can't, Russell is here to see you." She sounded sympathetic and I knew she cared about me but like nearly everyone in my life all she cared about was the continuation of Perihelion. She knew if I didn't eventually get up and start playing guitar again then she didn't have a job.

"Get rid of him." I spat but it was too late.

"Sookie!" He shouted, angering the perpetual hangover I had had for the past three months. I felt his weight on the bed shortly after.

My body tensed as I turned and sat up, looking at both him and Nora. Russell was losing more of his dull, brown hair and was nearly bald. His pores looked huge, his lips were chapped and he looked more tired than usual. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, hoping a casual approach would make everything feel less like work.

Nora looked like Nora, her narrow, angular eyes were emphasized with smokey makeup and winged eyeliner, blush highlighted her olive skin, her lips were stained blood red and her long black hair was curled, flowing over her shoulders. She was in her staple black skinny jeans, black chiffon blouse with a large black cardigan over top, black high heeled boots, an over sized sun hat and a single long gold chain around her neck. She was looking at her phone.

"How are you?" He questioned.

"How do I look Russell?" I asked him.

"You look like shit, Sookie." He said with no amusement on his face.

"Yeah? Well when your significant other of ten years leaves you then I can't wait to see how you look." I ran my hands through my long platinum blonde hair trying to get it under control.

"My wife _did_ leave me. We were married for fifteen years and she left me for my best friend. You and I have more in common than you think." He comfortingly rubbed my leg through the sheets and smiled.

I rolled my eyes. "What do you want Russell?" I moved away from his touch and crawled out of bed towards where Nora had left the coffee.

"The label is concerned, Sookie." He said standing, walking towards my dresser and throwing a pair of plaid pyjama pants and a black tank top my way to cover my gangly, nearly naked frame. My tan was starting to fade from being inside for so long, making my tattoos stand out against my pale complexion.

"Isn't the label always concerned?" I asked as I slowly maneuvered my way into the clothes and took the coffee into my hands, holding it like it was a life saving elixir. I pointed at Nora and snapped, "Cigarettes."

Nora fished a pack out of her black fringed purse and tossed them towards me. I sat down on the floor and lit one, letting the sweet nicotine calm my body. Up until three months ago I hadn't had a cigarette in six years.

"Sookie you are a part of one of the biggest bands in the world. You don't really think that just because Bill left your contract is void, do you? Perihelion owes Sonnet two more albums."

"And without Bill there is no Perihelion, how can something that doesn't exist owe you anything?"

"Perihelion still exists without Bill Compton." He stood up and walked towards me with his hands out like he was approaching a wild animal. "You and Eric can sing, Eric plays piano, we get a session musician to act as filler and it'll be like Bill never left."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Like he never left?" I stared at him, my breath becoming shallow and rage rising within me. "Get out." I spat.

"Sookie." He pleaded with me.

"Get the fuck out!" I shrieked.

"Sookie!" Russell shouted back and pinched the bridge of his nose. He calmed quickly. "Eric, Alcide and Tara have all agreed to go on a retreat that Sonnet will put together to see if the band will work without Bill. We just want to see if you can still perform the songs, still play together, play with the new member and write songs. All I'm asking is that you come to the office tomorrow morning at ten to discuss it."

I didn't want to discuss it, there was no Perihelion without Bill, at least not in my opinion. He had been there since the beginning, him, Eric and Alcide, the three founders. I had no doubt we could put out another album, Bill was our front man but Eric had what it took to take his place, he could step into that role effortlessly but that wasn't the point. The point was we were a band, the five of us and if one left then we were done.

"Sook, you are not the only person Bill's absence is effecting. Your band wants to make this work, you were _all _dealt a shitty hand here." Russell was now crouching in front of me. His face looked leathery, he had been spending too much time in Cabo.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hands. "Fine."

"Great." Russell said smiling a sleazy smile and sprung up, heading for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow and try and take a shower will you."

"Get the fuck out Russell!" Nora shouted as she looked at her phone.

"Alright, alright." He put his hands up defensively and left the room.

Nora and I sat in silence until we heard the front door close and I looked up at her. "Has anyone heard anything?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nope, not a word. Everyone's worried about you though and they miss you." She paused and took off her hat, shaking out her hair. "I know it's not my place but you should turn to them, it hasn't be easy for them either."

I nodded and dropped my cigarette into my almost finished coffee. "I know, I miss them too, I just..." I trailed off rubbing my eyes again, trying not to cry.

"He was your whole life Sook, I get it, I just think you're never gonna get over it until you start trying to get over it." We were silent while I lit another cigarette. "Has he contacted you?" She asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No, he knows better not too. He won't come to me first, not alone anyway."

"How do you know?" Nora asked.

"Cause he knows me and he knows the next time I see him I'm gonna fucking kill him." I blew out the rest of the smoke my words didn't disperse. I looked at the cigarette in my hand and decided this was also the last one, it probably wasn't helping my voice either.

Nora stared at me with a worried look, I was at the point in my break up where she didn't know if I was kidding or not.

I stood. "I'm gonna go shower, try to make myself presentable for tomorrow."

"Do you want me to call anyone in?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, Claude and Nan." Claude was my hairdresser and Nan was my masseuse. "Tell Claude to bring dye, something dark. I need a change."

She nodded.

"Thank you Nora." I walked up to her and threw an arm around her shoulders, hugging her.

"You're very welcome but you've gotta get off me, you smell like a sewer." We both laughed and I stepped away from her. "I know it doesn't seem like it," she continued, "but everything will be alright. You'll find a new normal."

"Yeah." I put the cigarette back in my mouth and let it dangle between my lips as I nodded at her comment. I knew she was right. Of course she was but my heart and head and body didn't want to listen. I was in agony and time was my only cure. The past thirteen years flew by but now time crawled.

Nan arrived first and I was on her table for over an hour. Claude arrived during that time and began mixing the colour. After Nan had left I sat down in his chair. "What do you want me to do?" He asked.

"Dark, really short, edgy." I said as he turned me away from the mirror. In the end my hair was a deep chocolate brown, shaved on the sides and back but long enough on top to style in a offbeat way or brushed over to the sides for a sweet and elegant look. I no longer looked like my old self and I loved it.

Nora was right, to get over Bill, over everything that had happened, I would have to start making small steps forward. This was the new me for this new chapter in my life.

My new normal.

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**That was my start. What did you all think? **

**Just so everyone knows this is a E/S pairing, it's just gonna take some time to get there. **

**I have posted links to pictures of how I picture everyone in this. For the most part they just look like the actors that play them, more sleek and edgy and not so country. **

**Songs will be used in this story and like all my other stories I will be using other artists songs and crediting them at the bottom. I will also leave links to the songs on my profile as well. **

**Please review if you can. It's always loved and appreciated. **


	2. The Reunion

**A/N: Thank you for all the positive reviews so far from Perfecta999, ciasteczko and foxgodess07. **

**I enjoy writing this so I****'****m happy someone is reading it. **

**Again if someone would like to be my beta please PM me. **

**Here is chapter 2!**

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"Jesus, when you come back, you come back." Nora said fluttering around my apartment making sure we had everything we needed before heading to the Sonnet office. Her outfit was more or less the same as yesterday except she had a large wool coat on. "You're certainly not fucking around are you?"

I wanted to look good, it would be the first time in three months I had appeared in public. If Bill was watching and waiting he would see these pictures. My hair was styled up into a pompadour, I was wearing black stilettos ankle boots, tight red high waisted jeans, a black lace bra and a fitted leather jacket which was open to show my midriff. My large brown eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner, my cheeks were rouged and my lips were a dark red cherry colour. "I look angry." I managed to spit out as I lit another cigarette. I'd quit tomorrow, today was going to be far too stressful.

"You should be fucking angry. You all should be." She collected keys off the coffee table and handed me a pair of aviators. "You ready?"

I shook my head. "No."

"It'll be..." She trailed off as she thought of something not so devastating to say.

"Fucking horrific." I finished her sentence as I stood, with my boots on I towered over her 5'3 frame more than I already did. I was 5'11 and my usually slim shape had become far too skinny since I had been living off of bourbon, cigarettes and coffee for the last three months. I'd have to make sure I started eating and exercising properly again. Eric would make sure of it, he was going to be angry when he saw me.

"It's two and a half meters between the building and car. What could go wrong?" She asked me as she ushered me out of the apartment and into the hallway.

"Famous last words." I muttered taking a drag.

The elevator ride was fine, nothing happened except the intake of chemicals and nicotine into my lungs. When the doors opened I could see them, the paps, waiting for me.

"Stand there." Nora said and she brought her phone to ear. "You ready?" She asked to who I could only assume was my driver. "The second she's in the car the door is closed and the car is off thirty seconds later, understand?" Another pause. "Good." She hung up her phone and looked at me. "Let's go."

Nora walked ahead of me as I braced myself, it had been ten years and I still wasn't entirely used to this part of fame. I put the cigarette in between my lips and pushed my glasses up on my face, taking a deep breath in. The door opened and I was drowned in a sea of flashes. The sounds of lenses opening and closing, capturing me forever in a moment, my name being screamed at me, superficially questions about my appearance, questions about Perihelion, questions about Bill I would never answer.

Everything moved in slow motion but in reality I was outside for no more than ten seconds. The door shut behind me and I took a long drag of the cigarette with a shaky hand.

"Now that wasn't so bad." Nora said cheerfully as she climbed into the passenger seat next to the driver.

"It was okay." I admitted. "Not as bad as it could have been."

Nora was looking at her phone. "Everyone is already at the office." The car took off down the street.

"A circus?" I inquired.

"Eric described it as a zoo. We'll take you around back, I'll let Russell know to expect you there." Nora was a lot of things and an amazing personal assistant was definitely one of them.

A few paparazzi followed us from our apartment to the office but were denied access to the delivery entrance as we pulled in. I watched the enormous crowd waiting at the front of the building as we passed. Normally, my old normal, there would never be this many photographers but because of the spilt I was tabloid gold and everyone wanted their cut. They were hoping to catch a glimpse of me or more importantly Bill.

I sunk back into my seat and threw my cigarette out the window as we drove towards the back of the building. We stopped abruptly and Nora jumped out of the car opening my door.

I walked with with her until we reached a set of service elevators, an intern was waiting for us. "Hello Ms. Stackhouse, we're very happy you could come." He smiled at me. He was young, his acne was blending in with the freckles on his face and his red hair looked soft like goose feathers. He couldn't have been more than a hundred pounds soaking wet and he was sweating furiously. Someone had given him this chance to collect me, if he could do it without fucking it up that could mean a promotion and anything was better than being an intern.

"Thanks for having me." I smiled taking off my glasses.

He motioned to the elevators and we all stepped inside and took it as high as it would take us. At the tenth floor we got off and switched to the actual elevators in the building. The intern said nothing to me, he stood silently watching the numbers change as we past all the other unimportant floors. I heard once that a person's success could be determined based on the floor their meetings were held on and we were going to the tippy top.

Once the doors opened the kid took us the final door at the end of a long hallway. "This is where I leave you," he said smiling.

"Thanks." I smiled back.

He just nodded and walked away while I turned to look at Nora. "Make sure someone knows that kid did a good job." I told her as she nodded and walked in the direction we had just come from. I had had handlers in the past who had asked me all sorts of personal questions, had tried to give me demo tapes, and snap photos without permission but this intern was respectful and efficient. He deserved to be awarded for that.

I was alone and stood staring at the door nervously. Finally I put my hand on the doorknob and let myself in. The room was large, a kitchen was right in front of me and a sitting area with a coffee table and TV was beyond that. To my left was a long conference table with another TV on the far wall, the windows were floor to ceiling and lined the farthest wall. Everything was either cream or grey in colour.

I realized the room was silent and everyone was looking at me. "Sook?" Tara finally said. She was closest to me in the kitchen making a tea.

I looked over at her and nodded. She was wearing a white fitted dress with capped sleeves that came to just above the knee. It hugged her in all the right places and looked flawless against her dark skin. Her hair was shorter since the last time I had seen her. It was now a warm brown colour and straight, resting on her shoulders. She wore no make-up, she didn't need to, her lashes were naturally long, her chocolate coloured eyes wide, her cheeks carried a natural flush and her lips were large and pouty. She was so beautiful and it hit me in that moment how much I had missed one of my dearest friends. "Tara." I whispered as I ran to hug her. "I missed you."

She laughed wrapping her arms tightly around me. The heels she was wearing helped close our height difference. "I missed you too babe." She kissed my cheek. "Don't disappear again, okay? We're all here for you and we can't imagine how difficult it must be for you but please let us try."

"I'm sorry." I managed to say through my tears that were now rolling down my cheeks.

"Don't be sorry." She cooed as she rubbed my back. "I love the hair by the way."

I touched the back of my head as I stepped away from her. "Yeah, I think I needed a change. It's really drastic I know."

"It looks good." Alcide smirked as he walked over to me wearing his usual white t-shirt, loose fitting blue jeans and converse sneakers. His tattoos peaking out here and there. "Where'd you go, Legs?" He asked as he pulled me into a hug. Legs was my nickname because I had legs for days. Eric had started calling me it to annoy me but eventually it stuck.

"I needed some me time." I inhaled the familiar smell of his black-brown hair. He had been using the same shampoo since high school, Head and Shoulders.

"Well you got three solid months of it, you think you're ready to do this again? Join the circus one more time?" He asked releasing me.

"I want to be." I answered truthfully. I couldn't imagine giving up music all together and being in this room with all of them made me want to believe that I could do this. The problem with being in the same room with all them was it was a glaring remind of who was missing, it was the reason we were forced to be here.

"We'll get there Sook, don't panic." He encouragingly nudged my shoulder with his fist. "You should go talk to Blue Eyes over there, he's been going out his mind wanting to see you."

Both Alcide's gaze and my own drifted to where Eric was sitting. He was in the farthest chair and his feet were propped up on the table. He was reclining and I couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not because of the large black aviators that covered his eyes.

I walked up to him slowly trying to decide what to say. Out of all the people I shut out during my meltdown, which was still very much in process, Eric's presence was missed the most. I had actually seen him once during that time but our meeting didn't end well. Even though I had known Tara longer, Eric was my best friend. We just had a connection I couldn't explain, I instantly calmed in his presence even when we were at each other's throats, which was a lot. Eric and I always needed to be right and we had short, fiery tempers. I always called him out on his shit and he always called me out on mine but we could never stay apart for very long.

His hair was slicked back and he had grown a beard, thick blonde hair covered the lower half of his face. He had been going to the gym and his black Modern Lovers t-shirt strained against his bulging arms and full chest. He had gotten a new tattoo, finding space amongst his nearly covered arms. The fresh ink was a pair of red lips wedged in between a portrait of his childhood dog Toby and the Perihelion tattoo we all had. His dark jeans were new, fitting him perfectly and a pair of black dress shoes adorned his feet.

I stood next to him silently. There were a thousand things I had to say, I should say. I'm sorry. I missed you. I needed you but I'm so fucking stupid and isolated myself. You're my best friend and I love you.

But that wasn't what I said, what I said was much more simple. "Hey." I lightly kicked his leg with my foot.

He stirred and looked in my direction. He took his feet off the table and removed his glasses, turning his chair towards me. He looked tired and stressed. "So this is what a quarter life crisis looks like on you?" There was no humour in his words.

"Do you not like it?" I asked, my hand immediately touching my hair.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, I knew my weight loss was going to piss him off.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"You don't know? Sookie, if you're going to shut us out at least take care of yourself." He sighed.

"I've just…" I shook my head and rubbed the back of my head. "I'll make more effort to eat correctly." I didn't want to fight with him, not today.

He stood and walked towards me stopping only inches away. I couldn't look anywhere other than his icy blue eyes, he was just taller than me and held my gaze. His demeanour, the way he was carrying his body told me how he was feeling, he was serious, angry and sad. "Don't do that again, " he said sternly. "Don't fucking disappear, don't shut me out and stop fucking destroying yourself over him." His voice never went higher than a whisper.

I nodded, crying instantly before I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled my body flush against his. "I'm sorry." I muttered before placing a kiss on his neck. "I'm so sorry." He just tightened his hold on me and placed a kiss on my temple as I rested my head on his shoulder. "Everything reminds me of him." I sobbed into his shoulder.

"I know." He murmured. "I miss him too."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now." I was trying to control myself but my emotions were too raw next to Eric and I couldn't stop.

"You have to find a new normal." He consoled.

It wasn't a coincidence that I had heard this saying more than once in less than a day. It was a band motto of sorts. After the release of our first album all of us were having trouble adjusting to the massive changes in our lives, we were upset that our lives were no longer 'normal'. Eric was the first one to say the words, he said them to me three and a half weeks before our first Grammys. After that everything seemed easier to deal with, to let go of the past and accept the present and future. It also gave us the title of our second album.

I nodded. "I need time." I said stepping away from him wiping my face, "but you're right, I can't destroy myself over this. I have to stop doing what I'm doing."

A small smile spread across his lips and he squeezed my hand reassuringly as Russell, Nora and our manager Sam Merlotte entered the room.

"Hey everyone!" Russell exclaimed as Sam began hugging Tara and Alcide, it had been awhile since we had seen him.

Russell looked over my way. "Sookie what happened to you?" He took a seat at the head of the table. "Are you a lesbian now?" He was wearing a black business suit and I decided I liked Russell better business instead of casual.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes Russell because my sexual orientation is directly correlated with the length of my hair." I shook my head.

I sat down in the chair beside Eric's and I heard him mumble, "prick."

I laughed at his little jab at Russell and realized it was the first I could remember laughing in a long time, a real laugh.

Sam approached Eric and myself and kissed my cheek while giving my shoulder a squeeze. "It's good to see you."

"You too." I smiled warmly. Sam was forty-two years old, he was average height, dusty blonde-brown hair, narrow blue-grey eyes and a permanent five o'clock shadow. He had been our manager since we released our first album. He loved the money but he loved the music more and us most. We were given all the credit for our success but I believed we wouldn't have made it this far without Sam.

He shook Eric's hand and took a seat. Tara and Alcide found their seats and Nora settled into the couch, eyes glued to her phone.

"Alright guys lets talk about why you're all here." Russell sang happily. "What the fuck are you gonna do now?"

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**[Posted by Just Jared]**

**Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - 11:02am - Is Sookie Stackhouse in trouble? The guitarist from band Perihelion made her first appearance in three months today rocking a very short, dark hair style and a shockingly gaunt frame. Heartbreak seems to have taken a toll on Stackhouse who ended her ten year relationship with the bands front man Bill Compton in the fall of last year. **

**An insider close to the band said Stackhouse has spiralled over the past three months and her scarily skinny frame could be the result of heavy drug use. Friends and family have been encouraging her to enter rehab but she has refused to seek treatment. **

**Sookie was headed to Sonnet Indie****'****s head office today joined by her remaining band mates giving hope to all Perihelion fans out there. Hopefully Sookie will get the help she needs so we can get new music sooner rather than later.**

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**What did you guys think? I****'****ve introduced the band and I****'****m very excited to expand and write these characters. Also I love tattooed Eric. I love tattoos. **

**I also want to say, I have no idea how the music industry actually works, this is how I wish it worked. **

**Please review if you have the time. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. What Are We Going To Do Now?

**A/N: Thank you to LostInSpace33, USrockerchick, covenmama, Perfecta999, ashmo2000, Kate and ciasteczko for reviewing the last chapter. **

**Also I need a beta, if you want to do it or know anyone else that want to please let me know. **

**I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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"So you've lost your front man and piano player," Russell said rubbing his hands together, "but that doesn't mean Perihelion is over."

"How?" I asked. "How is it not over?"

Russell's eyes lit up. "I'm glad you asked Sookie, Eric and yourself are very talented singers so the both of you will take over lead vocals. Tara and Alcide will continue to sing backup like they've always done, harmonies are 'your thing' and all that jazz." He winked at me and then looked over at Eric." Eric you can play the piano and the musician we've selected to round out the group will cover everything else." He sounded excited, like a child getting ready to play with a new toy.

"Don't you think _we_ should decide who rounds out the group?" Eric asked with irritation flowing under his words.

"Believe me, he's the best." Russell reassured.

"What if I don't want to exclusively play piano? What if Tara and Alcide want to sing lead? What if we want to change the structure of the band now that Bill has left?" Eric questioned.

"Can I smoke?" I asked fishing a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket.

"I'm fine singing back up." Alcide admitted.

"Can I smoke?" I asked again.

"I wouldn't mind trying to sing a little more." Tara confided.

"We can work on all of this on the retreat." Russell was trying to keep his cool but he was becoming frustrated with us.

"Can. I. Smoke?" I questioned for a final time.

"Whatever, it's fine." Russell dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

"Well, if she's gonna smoke then I'm gonna smoke." Eric said slipping a cigarette out of the pack, I lit mine and then his.

"No Eric, you were doing so well." Tara said disappointed.

He shrugged and took a long inhale in and exhaled out in ecstasy before looking back at Russell. "Don't tell us how we are going to structure this band, we'll see how it goes and let the chips fall where they may." Eric hated these meetings almost as much as I did.

"Okay but from my position it's not that easy, people are used to a certain look, Perihelion has always been a certain way. I think it's important to have the right front person." Russell shifted uncomfortably.

"You mean people are going to feel more comfortable watching two white blonde people sing lead vocals instead someone who looks like me." Tara spat.

"That's not what I said." Russell said defensively.

"But it's what you meant." I piped up. "We'll decide and if you like it then take it and if not then tough titties." I crossed my arms tightly looking away from him.

"So do we get to meet this new musician or what?" Sam asked changing the subject, looking at Russell the way we all looked at Russell with annoyance and contempt.

Russell pushed a button on the intercom next to him. "Stacey, can you tell Mr. Reynolds he can come in now."

We sat impatiently waiting for Mr. Reynolds to enter the room. "How long did you quit for?" I asked Eric.

"Six weeks."

"Awe Eric, why did you start again?" I asked him.

"I could ask you the same question." He took a drag.

"I'm going through a quarter life crisis, remember?" I said through gritted teeth.

"I hate to break it to you Legs, but we all are." He cocked an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes and looked over at the door when our new band member came in. He was about my height, he was wearing blue jeans and a plaid dress shirt with a navy blue sweater over top. His skin was dark, he had impeccably groomed facial hair, a paperboy cap was on his head and dark brown eyes peered out from behind black thick rimmed glasses. He approached the table slowly like he was a new student in a new class. "Hey, I'm Lafayette."

"Yes, this is Lafayette Reynolds and we think he'll be the best addition to the band." Russell said smiling up at him. "And look he's black, I have no problem with black people being in music."

All of us stared at him with a stunned look before Sam rubbed his face and muttered, "good God, Russell."

LaFayette ignored Russell's comment and took the seat next to mine.

"What do you play?" Alcide asked as Eric got up to find something to act as an ashtray.

"I play guitar, drums, piano, stand up bass and the accordion. I can also sing." He said straightening the cuffs of his shirt.

"Sing 'Sunday Kind of Love'." I asked him bluntly.

"Sook," Tara tutted.

"What? Harmonies _are _our thing, if he can't harmonize then what's the point?" I asked holding my cigarette carefully so ash wouldn't go everywhere.

"I agree with Sookie, I wanna hear what he sounds like too." Sam said looking at LaFayette. "I mean if he's going to be the new member, I'd like to know what we're all working with."

I flicked my cigarette ash into the shot glass Eric had found for us. LaFayette looked around the table, his gaze finally landed on me and I nodded, motioning for him to go ahead.

He took a deep breath in and sang the first verse, he was controlled, he had the right pitch and he was in tune. I felt a smile spread across my face, if I was going to have to work with someone else this guy seemed like a good person to start with.

He finished and nervously stared at the table, waiting for us to say something.

"Sookie Stackhouse." I said leaning forward to shake his hand. "That was good." I smiled.

"Yeah, really good. I'm Eric Northman." Eric reached over me to take LaFayette's hand.

LaFayette let out a laugh of relief. "Thanks."

Sam, Alcide and Tara all took turns introducing themselves before we got back to business.

"Now that you've met LaFayette, this is what Sonnet is proposing. We don't do this for many artists but we think you would all benefit from a retreat."

"What is it exactly?" Tara asked.

"We have a private island off the coast of Brazil near Rio. No paparazzi, no stupid interview questions, no irritating Perez Hilton articles talking about your clothes or hair or current weight situation. You'll go for no less than a month but no more than three." Russell took a breath. "It's just the five of you on the island, alone, trying to put Perihelion back together again," Russell looked over at me, "and yourselves as well or whatever _Eat, Pray, Love_ shit you want to get out of this vacation."

My brow furrowed at his stupid comment directed towards me. "So is it like _Survivor_ or will there be a place for us to actually stay?" I asked.

"There's a big, beautiful seven bedroom house, all the bedrooms have en suites, a large living room, dream kitchen, TV room, den, a gym and pool." He smiled. "A maid will come in three times a week and a cook will live on the island with you. Don't worry, we know how to treat our artists."

"No cooks, we don't need one." Tara said firmly. I knew for a fact that Tara and Eric loved cooking.

"Fine, we'll have someone bring in groceries two times a week." Russell compromised.

"Is one of those rooms temperature controlled?" Eric asked. "In that heat the instruments will warp."

"I'm not bring Beth if she's gonna warp." The name of Alcide's bass was Beth.

"There is a small recording studio on the island. Temperature controlled, your instruments will be safe in there."

"So a month vacation to put ourselves and the band back together?" Tara questioned.

"Exactly, Sam you are welcome to come too. It's important to be with them during this time." Russell smiled warmly and Sam nodded cautiously.

"Okay but what's the point of seeing if we work as a band if we can't sing any of our songs, Bill is a co-writer on all of them. Do you really think he is just going to let us continue touring using our old songs?" I asked looking at everyone else at the table to see if they were wondering the same thing.

"Bill is in breach of contract, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement with him." Russell smiled serenely.

We all took this information in. I think we all thought starting over without Bill would be harder, some legal matter or creative issue would get in the way or the music wouldn't flow the same way but it wasn't like that. It was almost as if he was never even a member.

"Well if you get a hold of him let him know I'm dying to speak to him." The anger in my voice rose with every word.

"I second that." Eric piped up.

"I have some words for him too." Alcide said with an irritated tone.

"Me too." Tara sounded irked.

It was clear that Bill had pissed off everyone when he took off without a word.

"What about significant others?" Tara asked changing the subject.

"What about them?" Russell questioned.

"I'm not going to leave Eggs for a whole month, possibly more." Tara said.

Sam nodded. "I agree, Luna is pregnant and I don't think I can go if I can't bring her with me."

"Luna's pregnant?" Alcide asked with a goofy smile on his face.

"Yeah." Sam started to blush and nodded.

"Congratulations man." Eric said as we all took our turn to congratulate him.

I saw this as an opportunity to try to get out of the retreat. "Well, if Sam can't go so there's really no point in us doing this." I said running my hand through my hair ruining any style it had.

"I didn't say that, I said Luna had to be able to come." Sam said slowly, he didn't like that I turned what he said around to benefit me.

"Significant others are welcome, we can find her a doctor in Rio to make sure her pregnancy is going along well, even fly her ob-gyn in if needed." Russell said.

"Eggs is going to be so happy." Tara said delightedly.

"My husband and I were talking about taking a vacation." Lafayette smiled, already enjoying the perks of being with the band.

"Okay, but that's a lot of trouble for you to go through just for us." I said getting nervous.

"We believe the juice is worth the squeeze." Russell was calm, that was because Russell knew he was going to win.

"I don't know, I just don't know if I can be around all these couples and your happiness. I can't handle it." I said shaking my head. "Not yet."

"Well thank God it's all about _you_ Sookie, I was worried for a second there you actually gave a shit about anyone other than yourself." Eric spat out at me.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked annoyed, turning to face him. His eyes were dark and I knew we were about to fight, it never took very long with us.

"I get it Sook, he left you and that's devastating but you are not the only person he abandoned." He lowered his head, resting his forehead in his palm and rubbing the hair at the crown of his head with the other hand, his voice sounded strained. "At least you got a goodbye, he ended it with you but I got nothing." He looked distraught and I could see the tears welling in his eyes. "I have spoken to Bill everyday for the last sixteen years and then one day he just disappeared without a trace," He sat up and scoffed looking out the window instead of at me. "I mean the only reason we know he's still alive is because his parents called you to tell us he was okay." His voice was steadily rising with every word he said. "He won't return my texts, he won't return my emails or phone calls. Bill _was_ your fiancé but he's my best friend. Did you ever for a second think about what that's like for me? Or Alcide? Or Tara? He won't speak to me and I have no clue why." He looked away from me shaking his head as a tear rolled down his cheek.

I hadn't for a moment in the three months I locked myself away thought about how shitty it had been for my bandmates. Eric was clearly distressed, confused and angry, they were the emotions I was feeling myself and my selfishness and ignorance to his feelings made me feel guilty, so naturally I lashed out. "I have no idea why he just left me either, you know." I yelled at him.

"He left you because he doesn't love you anymore." He shouted at me. I stared at him, I could see the regret in his eyes, he knew he shouldn't have said it but it had been three months with almost no contact, we were hurting and without Bill here, we were lashing out at each other. I turned away from him, squaring my jaw and trying my hardest not to cry but the tears came anyway. They fell silently down my cheeks.

"And then you disappeared." He whispered to me, the same amount of anger still on his voice.

I looked over at him. "You saw me during that time." I managed to say through my tears.

"What? When I came over to your place to box up all his shit cause you couldn't bare the sight of it anymore while you hid in your bedroom, chain smoking and drinking yourself into a stupor?" He scoffed. "How lucky am I that you allowed me to do that." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"You're such an asshole sometimes." I shook my head.

"Yep that's me, you friendly neighbourhood asshole." He wiped his face nabbing any stray tears.

I slammed my hand on the table causing everyone to jump a little. "I fucked up okay! I did, I know I did. I handled it the wrong way, I should have turned to you, to you all but I didn't, it was just easier to be alone. I had never been through a break up before and I did what felt natural at the time. I'm sorry I didn't call you so you could come over and braid my fucking hair and eat a pint of chunky monkey. I handled it the best I could." I shouted at him lighting another cigarette. "And I'm sorry if that wasn't good enough for you." I muttered, the filter in between my lips.

The room was uncomfortably silent as Eric and I took the time we needed to calm down. I hated fighting with him, he wasn't wrong about anything he said, I knew I fucked up but I just needed a little compassion right now and was not getting it. Maybe this retreat was what I needed, what we all needed.

Eric broke the silence. "Sook, listen, you need to go on this retreat because the band is a unit and it needs to be fixed, we can't do that without you. You need to go on this trip, you need an intervention, you need to detox." Eric's voice was calm as he spoke to me.

"I'm not an addict, what the fuck do I need an intervention for?" I asked looking at him, my make-up no doubt all over my face.

"You can be addicted to things other than drugs and alcohol, Sookie." He took another cigarette from the pack and lit it, turning away from me.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Fine, I'll go."

"Wonderful." Russell chirped happily like he didn't witness our full blown meltdown. "We can have everything all ready to go by Monday, is that too much or not enough time?"

"I still need to talk to Luna but it should be okay." Sam said.

"I'm in." LaFayette smiled.

"Me too." Tara took out her phone and began texting who I could only assume was Eggs.

"Debbie will be thrilled." Alcide said as he stood and took out his phone to call his wife.

"Great, I'll send you all the details and meet you at the airport on Monday." He left the room.

I shot up out of my seat. "Nora, lets go." I moved towards the door.

"No, no, no," Eric grabbed my arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

I furrowed my brow. "To my house, you know, where I live."

"No, there's no fucking way I'm letting you go back to the Grey Gardens you've created for yourself so you can drink and starve yourself some more. You're coming home with me." He laced his fingers with mine and held on tight.

"Eric, I'm fine." I lied.

"You're not but okay. Nora will collect your things and pack for the trip," he looked at Nora and she nodded, "and I'm going to take you home and cook for you until you're a size I deem healthy and acceptable."

"I can cook for myself." I said as he tugged me towards Tara.

"No you can't but I can and you need to eat."

"I'm not a child Eric." I spat.

"I would have believed that before but you just locked yourself in a room for ninety days like fucking Howard Hughes, now hug Tara." He pushed me towards her.

She was chuckling at our childish arguing. "I know it doesn't seem like it now but this trip will be good for you Sook, it'll be good for all of us, we've been growing apart for awhile." She leaned in an hugged me.

I nodded and squeezed her tightly before separating and going to hug Alcide. "Don't worry Sook, we are just seeing what happens. Work on your tan while we're there." He smiled his reassuring Alcide smile, the smile that felt like home, my old normal.

"Yeah." I smiled as convincingly as I could.

I said a final goodbye to Sam and Eric escorted me to the elevators. "Where do you live again?" I asked him.

"Chelsea." He replied quickly.

"Ugh, I fucking hate Chelsea." We entered the elevator.

"Well Chelsea hates you too." He paused. "It's better than the Upper East Side."

I smacked him in the chest. "I like the Upper East Side."

We stood in silence as the elevator descended. "And you'll learn to like Chelsea." Eric said quietly.

"We'll see." I took his hand as the elevator doors opened. I took a deep breath realizing we were leaving through the front. "I can't go out this way Eric." The paps had doubled since I had arrived.

Eric looked back at me with a smile on his face. "Come on baby, let's put on a show." He winked, fixed my hair, smoothed my makeup, put my glasses on my face and dragged me through the front door.

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**What did you all think?**

**There's chapter 3. I'm starting to form this story in my head and I'm excited about it. I also decided that it's going to be way sexier than I originally planned. I'm not a very good erotica writer and I want to work on that so I'm going to use this story to do that. The sexy time won't start right away, I still want to establish a story, but it will be earlier and more frequent than I usually do. **

**Thank you so much for reading and if you have time please leave a review. They are so incredibly encouraging. **


	4. Mac, Cheese and Awards

**A/N: Thank you for such a wonderful response to the story so far. Thank you to MissRon, Abelizsm, Perfecta999, ljhjelm49, 34ken, kate, covenmama, ciasteczko, ashmo2000, LostInSpace33, jroxyraytech and puffally for reviewing the last chapter. I love the reviews so so much. **

**This is a short chapter but I think it's an important chapter before they go away. **

**Hope you all enjoy.**

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**[Posted to Perez Hilton .com]**

**Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - 3:07pm - Did Bookie end because of new couple Sooric? **

**Bill Compton was no where in sight as Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman looked very happy and very cozy leaving the office of their record label, Sonnet Indie, today hand in hand.**

**Here's what one source had to say about the hottest new couple in music: **

"_Sookie was devastated when things ended with Bill and Eric was there to pick up the _

_the pieces. They have both known each other for so long they never thought of each _

_other in that way but when things are right, they're right. I've never seen either of _

_them this happy. _

**While we hope this new super couple is here to stay it could very well be a rebound and it's clear Sookie likes to date in the workplace. **

**Debbie Herveaux should watch her man, Sookie could be coming for Alcide next. **

"This is fucking bullshit." I complained, slamming my laptop closed and tossing it to the other end of Eric's large navy blue sofa.

"It's just a bunch of garbage they make up to sell advertising space and papers, ignore it." Eric asked taking bowls out of the cupboard.

"Who is this source in all of these articles?" I asked baffled. "As a band, we only talk to each other, there is no outside source."

"There isn't a source, it's a bunch of malarkey the writer makes up to give their untrue article more truth." He said dishing up whatever he had made us. "Why do you read it if it pisses you off so much?"

"I want to know what my image is, what people are saying. It affects the band as much as it affects me personally." I said running my hands through my hair sighing angrily. I looked up to the nearly comically large TV and instantly felt comforted, he had put on _Singin' in the Rain_ for me.

"So what? They are speculating that we're dating, is that really the worst thing?" He asked as he placed a bowl of white cheddar mac and cheese in front of me, it smelled incredible and my mouth instantly started salivating. I hadn't eaten a proper meal in months.

"You put tomatoes and bacon in it." I cooed digging in.

"It's your favourite." He said quietly as he began to eat from his own bowl.

"Thank you." I tried to say through my food, it came out all mumbled and muffled before I swallowed. "And to get back to what we were talking about, no it's not the worst thing but they aren't reporting that are they?" I wiped my face with a napkin and reached for the glass of red wine he put out for me. "They are reporting that I'm some cheating cock hungry whore who is running through my band like I can't control myself. I don't want Debbie to freak out. I love Debbie."

"Well at least they aren't reporting that you're a crack hungry whore anymore." He grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Stop finding a silver lining." I scolded him.

"Stop complaining then." He scrunched up his nose at me while a small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth before he went back to eating his food.

I smiled back as I nestled into his large couch and continued to eat.

Eric's apartment was cozy, that was the only way to describe it. It had a relatively large living area and high ceilings, a piano was in the far corner in between floor to ceiling windows and his television. All the wood from the floor to the furniture to the beams in the ceiling were dark and all the other furnishings were white, black, grey or navy. To the right was his kitchen, not too large but big enough to have all the gadgets he needed to cook whatever he wanted. There was a full bathroom off his modest foyer, with chandelier over head and marble floors. Down the hall was one more bathroom, two more bedrooms, one guest and one converted into his office/award room and his master bedroom with en suite. It was small compared to Bill's and my place, the place I was going to have to think about selling soon.

I had a second helping much to Eric's pleasure and changed into one of his large t-shirts, not wanting to wear the pyjamas Nora packed for me. I sat beside him and looked over his tattoos as he watched some Animal Planet show about puppies. "Whose mouth is this?" I asked as I let my fingers traces over the cherry red lips of his new tattoo.

He looked down at his bicep and then back to me. "It's your mouth."

I looked closer looking at wear the lips parted, I now realized they were singing and I could see the gap of my teeth. "Why?"

He shrugged. "It made me feel closer to you. I missed you Sook."

I smiled at his honesty. "I missed you too." I paused. "You're gonna run out of room soon."

"I have lots of bare skin left."

"I can't see any."

"Are you trying to get me naked, Legs?" He asked with a wicked grin.

"Maybe." I cocked an eyebrow. "I mean considering everyone thinks we're dating now and all." I gave him a goofy grin before cuddling up to him. "Are you seeing anyone?"

He shook his head as he slowly rubbed my arm with his thumb. "Nah."

"It's been a year since Katy, are you not ready?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I just think I haven't met the right person for me right now." He looked down at me. "I'll know when I meet them, I'm in no rush."

I nodded slowly. "Okay, you know I just want you to be happy, right?" I told him.

"I know." He said as he kissed the top of my head.

"I hate your beard by the way." I just wanted to keep talking to him, I had missed his company so much that I was binging hard now that we were back together.

He laughed rubbing it with his hand. "Well if you hate it, I'm keeping it. It's going to get crazy long."

I scrunched up my face in disgust. "Ew, no."

"It's gonna get Dumbledore long." He teased.

"No don't, you're too handsome to hide your face with a beard." I said touching the stiff bristles of hair on his face.

He chuckled softly. "Maybe I'll shave it soon." He said stroking the other side.

"Please, please do." I said snuggling back down against him and he pulled me closer.

We were silent for quite some time as we watched a bunch of different kinds of puppies fall all over themselves in a field. "I think I'm gonna go to bed." I finally said standing, looking down at him. "This day has been incredibly long for me."

He nodded as I left the room and walked down the hallway. His office door was open and the glitter of gold caught my eye. His office was where he kept all his awards, the awards we had won together. Thirteen Grammys, a Golden Globe, countless MTV Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, People's Choice Awards, American Music Awards, Billboard Awards, awards from different countries equivalent of the Grammys. They were packed on shelves, leaning against walls and piled on the floor.

"I think I'm gonna pack most of them up and put them in storage. Everything other than the Grammys and the Golden Globe." There was a bitter undertone in his voice about the Golden Globe. We were nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar that year too, we were favoured to win but ultimately we lost to some Disney/Pixar movie. Eric wanted to win badly, he'd always had a love for the movies and an Oscar would have made him incredibly happy. "There's just too much and I want more of a music room."

I didn't respond as I walked up to the Grammys and let my fingers run over the first one we ever won, Best New Artist. "Can you believe we did this?" I asked looking at him. "Ten years and look at everything we accomplished." Seeing all the awards made me think about all the other things we had accomplished, all the songs we had written, all the fans we had made, we received letters by the bag full thanking us for making the music we had. How a song could change a life, score the meeting of lovers, help someone through a breakup, help someone feel like life was worth living when there seemed like there was nothing left to live for.

A song could save a life and that's when I realized I needed music, my music, our music to save mine. I couldn't imagine my life without it and it was the thing that was going to get me through the shit I was going through now. I would write it all out.

"I want to go back to this." I said still staring at the award.

"What?" Eric asked walking up behind me.

"Do you remember the night we won this?" I asked him.

"Of course I do." He said like I was crazy to imply he had forgotten.

"We were so excited, we played like we were gonna die the next day, like nothing else mattered, I had never felt so alive." I frowned as I looked at him. "I don't feel that way anymore." I shook my head. "When we go away on this retreat I want to go back to the beginning. Forget about our image and what's expected of us. I want to stop writing songs with the hopes that they be hits and start writing again because if I don't I'll feel like I'll explode, like their are no other words that can go on the page other than the words flowing from my pen."

Eric was beaming at me. "Have you written anything lately?"

"Not much but can feel the need to right under my skin. What about you?" I asked him.

"I've written a song every single day for the past 15 years." He admitted.

"Why haven't you offered more when we record?" I questioned not knowing this about him.

"Because most of them aren't very good."

"I'm sure that's not true. No more hiding because we think something's not good. This album will have no rules, everything is welcome and no idea is vetoed." I suggested.

He nodded. "We should get Tara and Alcide on the phone."

"And LaFayette." I reminded him. We stared at each other surrounded by our accolades. "It's over, Bill and I, I know that." I finally admitted out loud. "I will be fine eventually, I just think I need to write him away. Does that make sense?"

"Yes." He strode towards me and scooped me into a hug. "We'd been drifting for awhile. We'll be great again."

I smiled and grabbed his hand and a pad of paper heading back to Eric's living room, setting up a conference call with the rest of the band. We talked for hours, we talked about themes, about what we had written lately, what direction we wanted to go in. LaFayette was vocal, suggesting possibly a more electronica sound, "I'm good with a synthesizer," which excited us all, we had never recorded a song in that genre before.

Exhausted, we finally said good night and Eric and I fell into bed. He cuddled me close and I felt comforted by his touch. "It nice to be held again." I told him. He responded by nuzzling closer to me. "I'm sorry again, about everything." I whispered knowing he was drifting off to sleep.

"Don't be sorry." He mumbled.

We were silent again for a few more moments. "I love you, Eric." I said as I closed my eyes.

"I love you too, Legs." He responded before sleep took us.

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**What did you all think? **

**The first Eric POV is next. His POV's are from the past and will be in italics. **

**Please review if you can!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. The Audition

**A/N: Thank you to kinnik, Aimeeok, sugarspinsister, outinritefield1, ashmo2000, ciasteczko, sybilh, E. B. Rhome, 34ken, kate, evasmomforever, gizmokc8, MissRon, Guest, Perfecta999, Estrella75, kelpie169, suzyq59 and LostInSpace33 for reviewing the last chapter. The response to this story has been wonderful and I love you all for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following it. **

**I found a beta! Her name is kelpie169 and she****'****s awesome. She runs this really cool fan fiction blog that you should all check out called Kelpie****'****s Korner (I****'****ll put a link on my profile). **

**So I****'****m going to start alternating between the past and the present, Sookie is the present and Eric is the past and it****'****s all written in italics. I hope this works and I hope you all like it.**

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_**Monday, October 7, 2002 - Bon Temps High School - Auditorium**_

_We managed to book the auditorium for three hours on a Monday afternoon. We needed a second guitarist to round out the band; it would give us a better sound or so Bill said. I wasn't against it and having another guitarist _would_ allow us to do more, but finding a fifth member was easier said than done. _

"_I can__'__t believe we'll need to do this to find a new drummer too." Bill said angrily. We had been watching mediocre guitarists who barely knew their cords all afternoon and we were all annoyed. _

_"What's wrong with Terry?" Alcide asked shovelling chips into his mouth. He was a huge guy, he always had been, even in elementary school but now that size was being put to good use. He was the Bon Temps Hawks quarterback and all he did was eat, play football, play bass and sleep. If we didn't make it as a band he would make it into the NFL; Alcide's future was bright. _

_"Terry is a stoner who misses practice more than he attends it." Bill took a long sip of his water. "We are looking for a new drummer.__" __His word was final. __"__How many more people do we still have to watch today?" He asked me. _

_Bill and I were friends because I knew how to play four instruments, guitar, bass, piano and violin. He was a year older than me and it was rare anyone older would befriend someone younger, but Bill wanted to be in a band and he wanted to play with the best. Apparently I was it. _

_I looked at the clipboard. "We have three people left." I said pulling at my red flannel shirt. I was going through a Nirvana phase. _

_Bill pushed the hair out of his face, we all had the same long shagged haircuts-in our eyes, over our ears, covering our foreheads. He was wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and the same ripped jeans I was. He looked over at the nerdy freshman girl we employed to corral all the 'talent'. "Send the next one in." _

_I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "I swear if I hear another Jimi Hendrix song I'm going to lose my mind." _

_"Samesies." Alcide agreed. _

_We all looked up when the tallest girl I had ever seen walked across the stage. I knew who she was, everyone did. She was Sookie Stackhouse. Her mother abandoned her and her brother once her father died of cancer eight years prior and she was forced to live with her grandmother. Her brother was a dropout and the Stackhouse's were generally looked down upon with the exception of her grandmother Adele. _

_She was at least 5'11 and thin but not skinny with long wavy blonde hair and awkward features that would become beautiful once she grew into them. She wore a white tank top, tight black jeans and knee high bikers boots. This was her usually style, but I had never noticed the tattoo on the underside of her upper arm and I was too far away to make out what it was. A Fender was strapped around her shoulder._

_"What's your name?" Bill asked; he was trying to play this completely aloof, the Simon Cowell of our group, but he knew exactly who she was. She was the girl we all secretly wanted to get with because of her 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. Her mystery made her hot-even if none of us were willing to admit it because she didn't look __'__acceptable__' __high school hot. _

_"Sookie Stackhouse." She said adjusting the guitar strap. "You put an ad in the school news paper and the Bon Temp Times looking for a guitarist and here I am." _

_"What are you gonna play for us Sookie?" Alcide asked. _

"_'A Bullet With Butterfly Wings__'__." She looked smug like she knew we thought she'd be shit and she couldn't wait to prove us wrong. _

_"The Smashing Pumpkins song?" I asked shocked by her choice. _

_"That's the one." She smirked at me as she plugged in her guitar. She strummed it a few times to check the sound and make sure it was in tune. Already I knew she'd be different. "I'm gonna sing too, is that cool?" _

_"Whatever you'd like." Bill said calmly. "It's your audition."_

_"Okay, I'm gonna play the whole song so don't try and stop me." Her lips twisted into a skewed smile as she stepped up to the microphone and began to sing. _

The world is a vampire, sent to drain/Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames/And what do I get, for my pain/Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game

_Every other person who auditioned played some huge elaborate song, usually Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix, trying to pack in as many notes as they could with the hopes of impressing us, but Sookie wasn't doing that. That wasn't what _this_ was; this song was a great song, a song that could fully express her talent without being too obvious. She didn't have to be. I could tell by the way she was playing that she was not going to support me-she was our lead guitarist. _

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage/Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage/Someone will say, "What is lost can never be saved"/Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage

_She started singing the chorus and the guitar tore through the auditorium and knocked the wind out of me. She had no support-no bass line, no percussion-yet the sound was full. I grabbed Bill's knee to let him know I was impressed. I looked over at him to see nothing but a blank expression. Even though he was trying to cover up what he was thinking like he always did, his pupils were dilated, I could see the vein in his neck beating furiously and his hands were balled into tight fists. Alcide had a look of awe on his face. _

Now I'm naked, nothing but an animal/But can you fake it, for just one more show/And what do you want, I want to change/And what have you got when you feel the same

_This was the girl. No ifs, ands or buts. _

Even though I know, I suppose I'll show/All my cool and cold, like old job

_The chorus came around again and a powerful voice poured out of her; you could hear her rage, her conviction, the pain and the anger of being fatherless, abandoned, the sister of a fuck up, the school outcast and it was fucking beautiful. As a musician there was nothing better than someone who could play their instrument and play it well. _

Tell me I'm the only one/Tell me there's no other one/Jesus was an only son/Tell me I'm the chosen one/Jesus was an only son for you

_The awkwardness in her features and her too long limbs was gone. She looked like rockstar-this was easy for her, effortless. She was perfectly at home on the stage, becoming one with the instrument. _

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a/Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a/Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage

_I knew there were plenty of other people who could play guitar like this, but there was something about her; a quality you either had or you didn't. A quality that intrigued people, that made them curious. Hers was so strong that it scared people away. I wasn't sure if it was a quality I possessed and while I was in awe of her, I also envied her. I was jealous of her talent, a talent I may never acquire, but I couldn't let my ego get the best of me. If she was great it would force me to be better and the band would be better because of it. We needed her. _

_She looked right at us for the last lines of the song, a self-satisfied smile on her face knowing she had floored us. _

And I still believe that I cannot be saved/And I still believe that I cannot be saved/And I still believe that I cannot be saved/And I still believe that I cannot be saved

_She finished and took a step away from the microphone as she pushed her hair back and wiped the sweat off her brow. _

_Alcide, Bill and myself didn't move while the freshman clapped furiously followed by a quick, "whoo!" We all turned our heads to look at her for a moment and she turned red as she sank back into her seat. We all turned back to look at Sookie. _

_When none of us did anything she moved back to the microphone. "That was it." She stared at us as we wrapped our head around what we had just witnessed. "Do want me to leave?" She shrugged, her voice laced with irritation at our lack of feedback. _

_"Yes, can you please step outside for a moment while we discuss?" Bill asked. _

_She sighed. "Alright." She slung her guitar around her back and exited through the side door, opposite the one she came in. _

_Alcide and I stood immediately making noises of excitement. "Holy shit!" Alcide exclaimed. _

_"That was amazing." I beamed. _

_"It was okay." Bill said quietly. _

_"How did no one know she could play like this?" I asked baffled. "You think someone in the school would have discovered her talent by now." _

_"I knew she could play. I just didn't know it would be like that." Bill's face was still steely as he stared at the place she just stood in. _

_Alcide and I looked at him with confused looks on our faces. "You knew she could play and never suggested her?" I asked running my hand through my hair. "I thought you wanted the best. She's it." _

_"My dad teaches music; she's in his class and he talks about her a lot. I knew, I just didn't think she was right for the band." He shrugged. _

_"Why not?" I questioned. _

_"Do you really want to give up your position as lead guitarist to her?" Bill inquired crossing his arms. _

_"To her? Yes, it'll free me up to do so much more. I can learn to play new instruments to add to our sound. No not add-it'll give us A sound. It's been two years and we've only written three songs. Maybe she's exactly what we need." I paused looking at him. "Why are you so against her?"_

_"Why do you care so much? Is it because you have a crush on her?" He cocked an eyebrow. _

_"Why are you being such a dick?" I asked completely confused. "And for the record everyone in this school wants to fuck her, okay? It's like the unspoken guy code." I looked over at Alcide. "Right?" _

_He nodded. "She's hot in a way my brain doesn't understand." _

_"I think you don't want her in the band because she's more talented than you." I put my hands on my hips. _

_He scoffed. "Now who's being a dick?" He rubbed his face and sighed. "Fine, okay, she's amazing and we need to have her in the band." _

_Alcide smiled. "Yes!" He reached over to give me a high five. _

_"The female dynamic is always a recipe for disaster though. Just sayin'." Bill said grabbing the clipboard and circling her name. _

_"What does that mean?" I questioned. _

_"I mean three guys in a band with a girl we all want to fuck...that's gonna cause problems." He looked over at the freshman. "Amanda, tell the other two to go home." She sprang up and quickly left the auditorium. _

_"I'm sure once we get to know her the allure will go away. She'll become more of a sister than a person of interest." I reasoned. _

_"Fine, but one day I _know_ I'll get to say I told you so." He sighed again as Alcide sat back down. "Bring her back in." Bill motioned towards the door. _

_I ran over to the side door and stuck my head out. She was sitting on the floor playing the guitar. The song didn't sound familiar-it could have possibly been something of her own composition. "You can come in now." I smiled at her. _

_She stood and sauntered casually through the door I was holding open for her. She smelled fruity, probably whatever spray she could find at the local drug store like most girls our age. She headed for the stage, guitar in hand. "Hey!" I shouted at her, "you can come sit here with us. The audition is over." _

_She nodded and followed me back to where Bill and Alcide were sitting. I was excited, partly because I was intrigued by her, but mostly because with her in the band we had an actual chance of making it. _

_I took my original seat and she sat in the row in front of us, turning her body to look at the three of us. "So am I in or what?" She asked bluntly. _

_"That was really good Sookie." Bill praised her with a cool voice. _

_"I know." She agreed. _

_"You're a junior, right?" He questioned. _

_She nodded. "Yep and you two are seniors," she said pointing at me and Alcide, "and you__'__re victory lapping." She grinned pointing at Bill. A victory lap was when a senior took an extra year of high school to gain courses they may have missed or needed for college. In Bill's case a victory lap was just a time suck so he didn't have to make any real decisions about his life. _

_"That's right." He laughed and flashed that charming Compton smile. "Where did you learn to play like that?" _

_She shrugged and pulled her hair back as she tied it into a ponytail. "My dad used to play and when he died I inherited the guitar. I wanted to know how to play, but no one could teach me. So I went to the library and checked out a book on guitar cords." _

_"You learned how to play like that from a book?" I asked stunned. _

_"Well not just from a book. I mean, I taught myself the cords and I listened to all kinds of music, learning how each cord sounded in different ways. Then I just kept playing until I could compose. Joining band in freshman year was incredibly helpful." She looked at Bill. "Your father is a good teacher." _

_We all nodded. "Well, we want you to be in the band!" Alcide said excitedly. _

_"Alcide," Bill chided and looked back at Sookie. "Yes, we'd like you to join the band." _

_"Cool." She smiled, her first real smile since she had stepped out in front of us. She had a prominent gap in her teeth that made her look sweet and not as intimidating or mean. The mystery was already lifting, she'd be a friend in no time and _I_ would get to tell Bill 'I told you so'._

_"Tomorrow we are doing this again to find a drummer and then Thursday is practice. Can you be there for both?" Bill asked. _

_"I'll have to switch my shift around but I should be able to make the Thursday practice." Sookie worked at Bellefleur's, the best pub in town. Bill had been trying to get us a gig there since the band had been formed, but he was always unsuccessful. _

_She stood and grabbed her guitar. "If it helps, I know a girl in band who's a pretty sweet drummer. She can sing too and has expressed interest in joining a new band. I mean, I can invite her to the practice and if it doesn't work then we'll do auditions." She stared at Bill already realizing he was the ring leader. "Sound good?" She asked, already half way out the door. _

_Bill rolled his eyes. "Just make sure she brings her own equipment." _

_She gave a throaty laugh. "Will do," she said as she left the auditorium. _

_Bill stared at where she disappeared through the door and sighed. "I really fucking hope this works. I'll text Terry and tell him he's out." He stood and left through the back door. _

_"We're gonna be rockstars, man!" Alcide smiled widely and leaned back in his seat as he munched on his chips again. _

_While we didn't have a name yet-that would come later-that was the day Perihelion was born. _

_It was also the day I started believing in fate._

* * *

**What did you all think? **

**I love the flashbacks, I really love writing from Eric****'****s point of view. **

**I have put a link to the song Sookie sings on my profile, A Bullet with Butterfly Wings by The Smashing Pumpkins. It****'****s a pretty amazing song if you****'****ve never heard it. **

**Thank you so much for reading and please leave a review if you can!**


	6. Have You Written Anything Lately?

**A/N: Thank you to sugarspinsister, wendy1969, mindy781, kinnik, MsNorthman, coven mama, outinritefield1, ciasteczko, foxgoddess07, Perfecta999, Estrella75, LostInSpace33, Kate, ashmo2000, Beth - Geek Chick, suzyq59 and the guest who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it. Also a big thank you to everyone who, favourites, follows or just reads the story. **

**Thanks to my beta kelpie169 for catching all my errors. **

**Estrella75 asked for a phonetic breakdown of the band name Perihelion and this is it, (per-uh-hee-lee-uh n). If you go to ** ** you can hear how it****'****s pronounced. In later chapters it will be discussed how they ended up with the name. **

**For all the readers of Summer Nights I just want to say that I am working on new chapters. I****'****m hitting a critical part in the story and I want everything to be perfect. So do not fret, I have not abandoned it, I just want to make sure I get it right. **

**Also I use actual music as Periheilon****'****s music. I like to have an actual soundtrack. If they sing a song in a chapter I will list the title in my end notes and will have a link to the song on my profile if any of you have any interest as to what they sound like. **

**We are back to Sookie****'****s point of view.**

* * *

The day we left for Brazil was freezing. I was wearing a heavy coat over a thick beige cord sweater, layered over a Bowie T-shirt with a black tank top underneath. Eric and I were in the car with the heat on full blast and I was still freezing.

I wanted a cigarette desperately, but Eric and I had decided to give them up the night before. My middle and index finger on my left hand were rubbing together in quick, hasty movements while I was biting the skin on my right thumb. "Can I just have one?"

"No." Eric said looking out the window.

He was annoying me and I knew I was annoying him. We were going to be annoyed with everyone we came in contact with today. For two people whose job was 70% traveling we were terrible, cranky, nightmarish travellers.

We had been getting along extraordinarily well for the past three days; sleeping in late, eating a lot, watching movies and writing music. We hadn't written a whole song, but we had pieces. The holes would be patched when we reunited with the rest of the band. I was annoyed because I didn't want to leave the bubble Eric and I had created. Even though we were going to paradise, I knew our time there would be anything but.

"I have a feeling everything is going to be different when we get back from this trip." Eric whispered, startling me. Despite his soft words, his eyes were still firmly fixed on the road. "I haven't decided if it's a good or bad thing yet."

"Of course everything is going to be different." His comment irritated me and I turned to glare at him. "We're trying to rebuild our band with a person we didn't form it with. It'll be different." I was still staring at him, willing him to look at me.

He didn't; he continued to look out the window as we drove out of Manhattan towards JFK Airport. He didn't say anything for a long time and his silence was doing nothing to improve my mood. "Yeah, that's probably it." He finally said, but he sounded like he didn't really believe it.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He was being weirder than usual. I knew he was going to be off today, but instead of being snappy, rude and instigating a fight at every turn, he was quiet.

He turned to look at me and the corner of his mouth tried to pull up into a smile, but the smile never came. "I'm just not looking forward to this ten hour flight." He placed his hand on mine and gave it a quick squeeze to reassure me.

He looked out the window again, his hands never leaving mine, and we drove in silence the rest of the way to the airport.

When we arrived, we fought the hoards of paparazzi and made our way into the terminal where we were greeted by Russell. "There are my lovebirds." He smiled with open arms, expecting a hug.

Eric batted Russell's arms away and I pushed my sunglasses up so they were sitting on my head.

"Russell, we are in no fucking mood for your shit today." I spat. "Can we please just check in?" I pleaded, nearly desperate to escape the paparazzi that had followed us.

The things they were shouting were beginning to anger me; most of them were about Bill, though a few were about Eric. The fact that Eric and I were together in public again would help fuel the rumours of our supposed budding romance.

I wanted to get past security so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. "Are you the one that planted that story about Eric and I being a couple?" I asked as we headed to the check in counter.

"No," Russell retorted, almost offended. "I don't need to make up stories about your band anymore. You're all quite capable of giving the tabloids a story without my help."

"So you're not the inside source?" I inquired.

He scoffed. "Oh please Sookie, you've been in this business for a decade. You should know by now there never _is_ an inside source."

I made a noise of frustration as we approached the platinum express line to get us through as quickly as possible. Once it was our turn, Russell started rattling off information to the ticket agent. "Are you not coming with us?" Eric asked hopefully.

Russell shook his head. "I'll be coming down in three weeks time. I have some things to deal with here and I think it's important that the band spend some time alone together without the label." He smiled warmly, but it was still fake. That was why I hated Russell so much. At least if he was honest about being an asshole I could respect him, but his phoniness was something I could not abide.

"That's un-like you Russell." I smirked at him as I turned my attention back to the ticket agent as she handed Eric's and my passports back to us.

Russell shrugged as we began checking luggage and arguing with the attendant about bringing our guitars on the plane. I wanted my guitar to help pass the time; the girl helping us was unsure if we were allowed to bring them on and she needed to call the manager.

Thirty minutes, five autographs, three photos and a lot of negotiating later, the manager decided we could bring them on. But we had to pay extra to do so.

Once everything was settled, we left Russell and headed towards security. He told us that Alcide, Debbie, LaFayette, Tara and Eggs were already on the other side. Sam and Luna would be coming into Brazil the next day.

Security was a nightmare, which was to be expected, and our guitars were scanned and checked throughly. Finally we were cleared and allowed to go on through. By that point Eric and I were both on our last nerve.

We made our way over to the gate and approached the first class lounge. Flight attendants checked our passports and tickets before allowing us inside. Thankfully, the only people in the lounge were the members of Perihelion and their significant others.

My irritation subsided when I saw them all. I hadn't seen Debbie in nearly six months but she was exactly the same-tiny, red haired and bubbly. She was always smiling and her dancers body made her movements rhythmic as she came towards me. "Sookie!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms around my waist.

I laughed. "Hey Debbie," I squeezed her back, "how are you?" I asked. She was wearing black yoga pants and an oversized Perihelion t-shirt tied off at the side.

"Great! I'm really good, just finished touring with Beyoncé, so this vacation couldn't have come at a better time!" Her smile fell. "I'm sorry about Bill, what he did wasn't cool. I mean, to you and to the band. Do you still not know where he is?" She inquired.

I shook my head and swallowed hard. "His parents are trying to keep us all updated, but he's not speaking to them much either." I didn't want to talk about this. I was doing better, but I was no where near fine.

"I wonder what made him do this?" She pondered out loud, not expecting an answer.

I answered her anyway. "I wish I knew." I smiled at her sadly. She registered my unease and smiled brilliantly as she attempted to change the subject.

"I'm so happy we're doing this." She sang as she ran back over to Alcide. "Look who's here, baby!" She said to her husband as he looked up and waved.

"You look good, Sook. Eric fattening you up?" He joked.

"It would appear that way." I spat as I shot him a glare.

"Everyone is in on it; our plan is to cook and eat you." He winked.

"You're such a weirdo." I laughed as I rolled my eyes and shook my head before approaching Eggs.

"Hey Eggs, how are you?" He pulled me into a hug. Eggs was one of our sound technicians when we were on tour. It had been almost eight months since I'd seen him.

"I'm good, Legs. How are you?" He smiled kindly. He was an inch shorter than Eric, but much more muscular. He took pride in his body and you could see the hours he had spent at the gym. The size of his biceps and the strength in his leg muscles was ridiculous.

"I'm... better." I said honestly.

"You look good. I like the hair." He ran is hands through it, no doubt messing it up. "It'll be nice for us to hang out like this. Life just gets so busy."

I nodded. "I'm looking forward to it as well." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't entirely the truth either. I hugged a calm and droopy eyed Tara, but she didn't say anything. She just embraced me back. She hated flying and self medicated before every flight.

I took a seat in-between Eric and LaFayette as we waited for the flight to board. "Where's your husband?" I asked LaFayette.

"He'll be coming over in a week. He couldn't take his vacation time right away because it's just after the holidays, but he'll be over soon." He smiled at me.

"What does he do?" I inquired.

"He's in advertising. You know those Snickers commercials? The ones, 'you're not really yourself-"

"'Eat a snickers.' Yeah those commercials are funny." I smiled finishing his sentence.

"That was his idea." He smiled proudly and we sat in silence together. "Thank you, by the way." He said quietly.

I looked over at him with a furrowed brow. "For what?"

"For accepting me so easily. I know what happened here, between you all. Your history, the fights, all the drama at the Fleetwood Mac tribute. Your relationship with Bill, how you built this empire with him...and you just let me in." His eyes would occasionally fall on me, but they darted from point to point in the room. "I figured there would be weeks of fighting tooth and nail for any of you to agree to let me join. But that wasn't the case."

I let out a long shaky sigh. "Bill made a choice and we had to make a choice in response to that. Just because you're here doesn't mean it's going to work. _But_ if it's gonna work with anyone, we want to try and make it work with you." I smiled at him. "Where are you from originally?" I asked, effectively changing the subject.

"New York City-born and raised." He said proudly. "You're all from a small town in Louisiana, right? Bon Temps?" He guessed.

"Did you read our Wikipedia pages?" I joked with him.

He laughed. "I did, but Sonnet gave me files on every one of you."

"That's creepy." I admitted. I knew Sonnet probably kept tabs on the band, but not to that degree.

"I think they wanted to ease my transition. It's hard to feel like an outsider when I know everything about you guys." He grinned and it was a calming smile. LaFayette had an aura about him; he just made me feel relaxed.

"I suppose that's true." I chuckled before pointing at him sternly. "The label is the enemy by the way. Fight them on everything...even if you agree with them."

"Why?"

"So when everything works and the record sells and we get five hits off one album, they'll keep giving us more and more power because in the end we were right." I grinned.

"That's smart."

I shrugged. "It took two albums to learn that, but it's worked to our advantage ever since." I changed the subject again. "You were originally a session musician?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Can you write?"

"I'd like to think so."

I smiled at him slyly. "This isn't going to be what you're used to. You're not just going to be told what to play and when. You're going to have to get creative."

"I'm counting on it." He cocked an eyebrow and his lips pulled up into a half smile.

I grinned as I rearranged myself in the chair as I tried to get comfortable. I was impressed that he didn't crumble under my questioning. The more I learned about him, the more I felt like he was the right fit.

It was another forty agonizing minutes before we were allowed to board. We found our seats quickly and I shed most of my layers, revealing my Bowie t-shirt. I waited nervously, my leg bouncing as I chewed my thumbnail. I hated take off and landings. I gripped the arm rest as the plane jolted forward, ascending smoothly into the air. When I finally calmed down, Eric and I took out our guitars and notebooks.

Tara had already passed out, so Alcide and LaFayette gathered round Eric and I. Alcide pulled out his bass and began to tune it. "Did they give you shit trying to get that thing on here?" I asked pointing at the instrument. He was wearing a Radiohead t-shirt and some sweatpants.

He shook his head. "Naw, they just told me security may need to take a special look at it."

"Who checked you in?" Eric asked tuning the guitar. "Our girl gave us a hard time." Eric was wearing loose fitting jeans and a Nirvana t-shirt.

"I don't know some young overweight dude." He shrugged finding the most comfortable position to sit in. He was sitting in the seat in front of me, Eric was sitting across from me in the aisle and LaFayette was in front of him. LaFayette was also in jeans wearing a basic plaid button down.

"Okay, so have you guys been writing anything lately?" Eric asked before we were interrupted.

"Are you guys Perihelion?" A strange voice asked us.

We looked up to see three girls in their early twenties. They were all blonde, but their hair looked fried and brittle and they wore too much make-up. They were wearing strapless bondage dresses; I shuddered internally. Way too uncomfortable for a ten hour flight. It made me wonder what they had been doing in New York or what they were planning to do in Brazil that made them look they way they did. Ultimately, it was none of my business. I just wanted to get through this fan encounter and get back to the music.

All the girls had a smile on their face and their phones at the ready in their hands. "Yeah, we are." I said shortly.

"Can we get a photo?" The shortest of the three asked.

We couldn't say we were in a rush or that we needed to be somewhere - we were all stuck in a tube together for the next ten hours. So we stood and smiled and took photo after photo as I waited for one of them to ask me about Bill or who LaFayette was. To my surprise, not a single girl did.

"Can I ask you guys something?" The blondest of the three asked.

We all shifted uncomfortably waiting for the Bill question to be asked. "Can you play one of your songs?" I saw a flush in her cheeks as her gaze landed on Eric. The look was innocent,but also hungry and I rolled my eyes.

Eric sighed as he plastered a fake simile on his face. "I don't know if we can. I think it would disrupt the other passengers." He was trying to be as polite as possible.

"I don't think it would be a problem." The one with the most make-up proclaimed. She turned to look at all the other first class passengers. "Do you all want to hear Perihelion sing a song?" She shouted.

The whole cabin started to clap and cheer, even the flight staff. I shot Eric a quick look trying to gauge if he wanted to do this. LaFayette was also cautious while Alcide was smiling ear to ear.

"See, no one has a problem with it." The blondest one smirked as she leaned over a seat, her breasts nearly spilling out of her dress.

"Okay." Eric bit out through gritted teeth. He and I sat down and picked up our acoustic guitars.

"What do you want to hear?" Eric inquired.

"'Instant Pleasure'. If you can?" She smiled sweetly, which caused another over exaggerated eye roll from me. Of course she would pick this song.

Eric looked up at me, asking silently if this was something we could do. I nodded.

We situated ourselves as Alcide and LaFayette prepared themselves as well. Eric looked to me one final time before he nodded slowly. "1, 2, 3..." And we started to play. This was the moment we stopped being individuals and we became a unit; we **became** Perihelion.

Eric took lead vocals.

_I don't want somebody to love me/ Just give me sex whenever I want it_

The girls swooned as we entertained the entire first class cabin and Tara slept blissfully on.

_Cause all I ask for is instant pleasure, instant pleasure, instant pleasure _

It was the first time we had performed with LaFayette who actually knew the song; he must have learned our entire catalogue. He, Alcide and I all supported Eric vocally and they clapped to fill the lulls in the guitar; this got the whole cabin clapping if they weren't filming us.

_Think that all these folks get laid/Do it 'cause their pain is great/What you thinkin' anyways?_

I looked up at Eric and smiled. His voice really was exquisite, all our voices were. Fate was the only thing that could explain putting together a group with the talents we all had. He looked happy as he sang and I couldn't help but feel the warmth that performing brought with it.

_If drinkin' coffee's your idea of really cool/You can't expect no crazy chick to notice you/Just sittin' there dreamin' instant pleasure, instant pleasure, instant pleasure_

We finished the song to a round of applause louder than I would have liked and graciously took a bow.

"That was awesome." The busty girl cooed as she looked over at Eric. "If you need anything, I'll be sitting right over there." She gave him a sexy smile and winked before heading back to her seat.

Debbie and I were all over him the moment the girls were seated. "If you need anything, I'll be sitting right over there." We said in unison in high squeaky voices. I looked over at Debbie and laughed as she slapped me a high five.

"I can't help if girls want to fuck me." He said with a smirk.

"You'd think after ten years I'd be used to the obviousness of it, but my God! The desperation is incredible." I said as I shook my head.

"People want to feel important and sometimes the only way they can is to be near someone they think is important. They have no interest in me, just what I represent." He said flipping to a page in his notebook with all the scattered lyrics we had written in the past week. "I think we should build on this." He pointed to a cluster of words and I leaned over the aisle to look at it.

_These changes ain't changing me/ the cold-hearted boy I used to be_

"I don't know why, but I like it." He said strumming the guitar.

"We can build off that." I said flipping through my own book. I looked up at Alcide and LaFayette, picking up where Eric left off before we were interrupted. "Have either of you written anything?"

And off we went; blending verses together, creating a solid chorus and finding the chords to go along with it.

After two hours we had a pretty decent song. We all knew that it would need tweaking, but the fact that we had something made us all hopeful.

We put our instruments away and settled in for the rest of the long trip. I watched a movie and then slept for the rest of the flight. Eric nudged me awake as we were descending and I sighed with relief knowing we'd be on solid ground soon.

Eric was smiling at me.

"Why are you smiling like that?" I narrowed my eyes at him as I sat up straight. I was fully alert and brought my hands to my face, fearfully patting over my skin. "You didn't draw on me again, did you?" I asked with a squeaky, fear laced voice.

He huffed, a small grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. "I can't believe you are **still** bringing that up. That was four years ago and, in my defence, you can't tell me you want your life to be more like _Friends_ just before we get on a plane and then expect me not to draw a moustache on you." He shrugged. "At least it wasn't permanent. It came off with a wet nap."

"I was photographed with that moustache on my face!" I reported with irritation.

"I know." He started laughing hysterically. "It's a little funny."

I shook my head, trying not to smile as he continued to giggle like a school girl.

Once the plane landed, we gathered our things and headed towards customs. We claimed our luggage and we were picked up by a rep for Sonnet Indie. It was a thirty minute car ride and then a twenty minute boat ride to get to the island, which was indeed as beautiful as Russell had said. We docked and walked towards the house we'd call home for the next month or so.

We approached the side of the house first which faced the ocean and beach. A deck surrounded the side and back of the house. A Jacuzzi sat in the middle of the deck closer to the beach and a large infinity pool sat closer to the back. A fire pit with cushioned seating was built into the deck closer to the structure, a large BBQ and a table for eating was positioned off to the side and random chairs were scattered over the place.

The house had two floors. I could see bedrooms through floor to ceiling windows that could be opened facing the ocean. We passed one as we stepped onto a stone path and entered the house through the front door.

The foyer was small in comparison to the rest of the house. The floors were white marble which carried up onto the walls. To my left was a large closet and in front of me was a long black wood table against the wall which had a vase full of exotic flowers on top of it. There was a dark circular rug right in the middle of the space and a spectacular multi-tiered chandelier over head.

We left our luggage at the door only carrying our carry-on into the house which opened up into a cavernous living space. The ceiling was glass which would let in large amounts of light during the day. I could see the upper floors on either side of the house through the glass. The floors and walls were still marble except for a wall of sliding glass doors that opened to the deck we all saw just moments before.

A sunken living room sat farthest from the sliding doors on the far wall centred in the middle of the room. Three steps led down to an area with three black sofas lining the space. A black wood coffee table sat in the middle with a creme coloured rug under foot and a large flat screen tv mounted to the wall.

Next to the living space was a kitchen. A long black marble island ran along the entire length of the space and had a stainless steel flat top stove in the middle. Along the far wall was a stainless steel fridge, microwave and two ovens were a part of a large black wood wall unit. Hidden cupboards were built into the wall unit hiding whatever food items had been purchased for us. Open shelves housed all our dinnerware and glasses.

"If you need anything food wise." The representative said, "input the item into this iPad and it will be brought to you with one of the bi-weekly shopping trips." He was pointing at the iPad built into the fridge. He spent a moment teaching us how to use it.

A long black wood dining table ran along the space between the living and kitchen area and the sliding glass doors.

On either side of the room were two hallways. "What are down these?" I asked not knowing which one to go down first.

"These lead to the bedrooms, den and the gym." The representative said. "There are six bedrooms on the tops floors and one on the bottom floor."

"I shotty the one on the ground floor." I announced loudly.

"All the rooms are assigned. Each space has been tailored to each one of you but luckily for you Ms. Stackhouse the bottom floor has been given to you." He smiled mildly.

"Yes." I pumped my fist a few times in celebration and headed to my bedroom. Eric's room was on this side of the house as well so he followed me.

A sign was hanging off the white wooden door which lead to my room, it read 'Ms. Stackhouse' on it in elegant handwriting.

"Ooooooo, Ms. Stackhouse, let me get your door for you." Eric joked in a posh British accent, his nose held high in the air.

The room was large with a king size bed against the side wall. It was covered with white linen and black bedsheets. The white marble ran into the bedroom and black rugs were placed on either side of the bed. A long rug ran from the door to the en suite bathroom. Opposite the bed were a wall of sliding glass doors that opened to a small elevated patio which overlooked the deck, beach and ocean. Black wood night tables, dressers and an armoire lined the walls.

I threw my bags on the bed and walked into the bathroom.

"The designer of this place really liked black and white, huh?" Eric stated as he looked around my room. "I hope my room is this nice." He sat down on the bed.

The bathroom walls were covered in tiny black tiles and ran onto the floor. There was a large vanity and sink, huge walk in shower and a massive basin tub that I was definitely going to put to good use. I walked out of the bathroom and looked at Eric. "I like it."

"Well if you like that's all that matters." He smiled at me before he stood. "Let's go back out."

When we re-entered the main living area everyone was gathered around the bar. Germaine, the Sonnet representative was giving everyone a lesson on how the bar worked. "This is the bar, fully stocked, if you run out of something input it into the iPad." He paused and reached behind the bar as we met up with the group. "And this is something more of the herbal variety." He pulled out a colossal bag of weed. It had to be at least three pounds.

"That is fucking huge bag of weed." LaFayette said dumbfounded like we all were by the size of it.

"Yes it is, LaLa, yes it is." Eric said creating LaFayette's nickname already.

Germaine sighed and clasped his hands together looking at us. "I can't think of anything else, does anyone have any questions?"

"What do we do if we want to go to the mainland?" Eggs asked.

"Unfortunately, for the next three weeks you're stuck on the island. Once Russell arrives you can ask him and he'll arrange something for you." He smiled professionally, fake and courteous. "Oh one more thing, there is no wi-fi and your data has been disabled. No internet on the island. You can make phone calls but that's it."

"Why?" Alcide questioned.

"Because the last thing any of you need is to read what people are writing about you." He paused to see if any of us would protest. When we didn't he continued. "Is that it? No more questions?" We all shook our heads. "Wonderful." He turned and without a goodbye left.

We all turned and faced each other. "Well I'm exhausted so I hope you all don't mind if Eggs and I go to bed." Tara asked snuggling up next to her boyfriend.

"Us too, that was an incredibly long flight and I didn't sleep at all." Debbie said stretching.

"That's alright," I smiled, it really was, it was nearly midnight our time, almost three Brazil time.

"I should probably turn in too, I'll see you guys tomorrow." LaFayette said to Eric and I as he turned to go upstairs following the two couples.

I looked over at Eric. "Are you going to bed too?" I asked.

"I could," he grinned at me, "or we can smoke some weed and talk until we pass out." He proposed.

I nodded. "That, let's do that."

And then we got high, opened my patio doors to let the air in and lied on my bed. "Since this retreat is supposed to be about reflection, what is your favourite band memory?" He asked me taking his shirt off. Tattoos covered his pecs, his upper and lower abdomen and hips trailing down his lower V. I couldn't see his back but I knew it was covered.

I had seen Eric naked so many times because of costume changes and living on a bus together, his bare skin barely phased me. "My favourite memory," I tapped my lower lip as I thought. "The first time I heard 'Just' on the radio. I was being accosted by those bitches Sarah Newlin and Violet Mazurski-"

Eric cut me off. "I like Sarah Newlin."

"You like Sarah Newlin cause she let you fuck her under the bleachers during the homecoming game senior year." I shook my head.

"Well, that's not the point. Sarah wasn't that bad." He crossed his arms over his chest in a huff.

"Sarah was a fucking nightmare but whatever, anyway, they stopped me in the drug store just before we were about to go on tour. They were teasing me about how our music was bullshit and how it would never work out. Then the song started playing over the sound system almost like -"

"Fate?" He cut me off.

I nodded. "I had never been so proud of myself or us. I looked at both of them told them this was my song, gave them a bitch smile and then flipped them off before leaving. It was so satisfying" I giggled rolling close to him. "What about you?"

He breathed in deep and sighed. "I think it has to be our first practice together. You and Tara came in and changed everything. I don't really think it occurred to Bill that writing a song was a team exercise, that it could be done by anyone other than him." He sighed again and began stroking my hair. "I wish I saw him for what he was then instead of it taking sixteen years."

"Hindsights 20/20. Most people see what they want to see and Bill did a good job of making us believe we needed him." I spat out.

"You seemed to have changed your tune." Eric said looking down at me.

"I isolated myself for so long over our break up and now I'm fucking furious with him."

"It sounds like the five stages of grief." He said.

"It may as well be." I admitted. "I lost someone, we all did."

We said nothing for a long time until Eric broke the silence. "We are gonna write a killer record here, I know it."

"I want to read some of your songs tomorrow. All the ones you've written." I said getting comfortable.

"We'll see." He said quietly.

"I'm really glad you shaved you're beard." I rubbed his jaw.

"You were right, I'm far too handsome to hide my face."

I laughed lightly jabbing him in the side. "I give your ego too much fuel."

"I think it's the right amount." He pulled me closer to him. "Can I stay with you tonight?" He asked me.

"Of course." I said quietly as I nestled up to his side.

He turned off the light and I was out. I slept dreamlessly, soundly, deeply and when I woke up it was well into the afternoon and Eric was gone.

* * *

**Was it worth the wait? They are finally on the island! Yay!**

**The song they sing on the airplane is called Instant Pleasure - Rufus Wainwright. **

**The Friends episode they are talking about is called The One in Vegas where Ross draws a moustache on Rachel after she says she doesn****'****t embarrass easy. The pen doesn****'****t come off and hilarity ensues. **

**The next chapter will be from Eric****'****s POV just so you know. **

**Please don****'****t forget to review and thanks for reading. **


	7. Suicidal Canyon and the Thirteen

**A/N: Sorry this took so long but this chapter is here now. **

**Thank you to txclamityjane1, ciasteczko, outinritefield1, Kate, Shantigal, vmhsnancy, Perfecta999, ashmo2000, 34ken, MsNorthman, LostInSpace33 and the guest who reviewed the last chapter. A big thank you to everyone that has followed, favorited or just read the story. **

**Thank you for kelpie169 for editing this chapter, you rock my socks. **

**So this chapter is from Eric POV. It takes place a couple days after the audition. **

**I hope you all like it.**

* * *

_**Thursday, October 10, 2002 - Sookie Stackhouse**__**'**__**s Home - Bon Temps**_

_Our first practice as the new and improved band took place at Sookie__'__s house since she had a large detached garage where we could play as loud as we wanted. _

_Usually we practiced in Bill__'__s basement, much to his mother's trepidation. When we played at Bill__'__s house we were never allowed to plug our instruments in and there were no drums allowed. It didn't really matter considering Terry never showed up anyway. _

_I was late for the rehearsal. My mom stopped me just before I left and had me do a bunch of chores. If I had enough time for practice, I had enough time for chores or so she said. _

_I pulled up the long drive way off of Hummingbird Road and stopped when the gravel ended in front of a modest white and yellow farmhouse. I grabbed my guitar as I unfolded myself from the car and headed for the battered garage. The light blue paint was peeling off the wood making it look more brown than blue. _

_As I approached I could hear music drifting from our new practice space and I cautiously opened one of the barn like doors and stuck my head in. _

_They were playing __'__Stranglehold__' __by Ted Nugent. They had all the equipment set up and a microphone stand was left empty for me. A keyboard sat off to the side but within Bill__'__s reach, he was watching Sookie play guitar in the dark denim jeans and basic blue t-shirt he had worn to school that day. _

_Sookie__'__s eyes were closed and her head was angled to the ceiling as she let her fingers dance over the neck of the guitar. She was wearing a red tank top and black jeans. Her feet were bare and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the smallest grin lined her lips. _

_Alcide was all smiles as he supported her every step of the way with the strong bass line. He was wearing his standard plaid shirt and light blue jeans. _

_Tara Thornton was behind her drum kit playing confidently, effortlessly. She was wearing a dark green t-shirt and had pulled her micro braids into a ponytail. She made eye contact with me first, looking up at me through her lashes as she concentrated on the song. She smiled and nodded her head back, inviting me in. _

_I slipped inside and placed my guitar on the old ragged couch that sat against the side wall. The ceilings were high and the floor was covered in old rugs. Bikes, tools and lawn grooming equipment lined the walls and several windows were letting in the late afternoon sunlight. _

_Bill finally noticed my presence and nodded in my direction before jogging over to me. __"__Hey man, I__'__m glad you made it.__" __He smiled widely at me. __"__You know this song right?__" __He asked me getting right down to business. _

_I nodded. _

"_Good, we need rhythm guitar.__" __He ran back over to the microphone. He was always about the music, even if nothing was happening with the band he always wanted to know what was _happening_ with the band. _

_I took out my guitar quickly, plugged it into the amp and looked over at Sookie to find my place. _

_She finally looked down, opening her eyes and directing her attention my way. She smiled widely as we fell in sync with each other and she took lead guitar. _

_Vocals were coming up and Bill looked at both of us. __"__Sookie first,__" __he looked over at me, __"__then you come in, kay?__" _

_I nodded as we made our way up to the microphones. Bill started singing a series of __'__C_'mons_'__, and when she was queued Sookie joined, harmonizing perfectly. I jumped in at the very end before the start of the last verses which we all sang together. _

Road I cruise is a bitch now/Ya know ya can't turn me round/And if a house gets in my way/Ya know I'll burn it down

You ran the night that you left me/You put me in my place/I got you in a stranglehold, baby/That night I crushed your face

_We finished off the song and all took a step back looking at each other. __"__Well that was promising.__" __Sookie said excitedly before she frowned. "I never realized how violent that song was before though." She looked over at me with wide eyes. "Yikes." _

_"Whatever it's just a song." Bill brushed her off. _

"_How many times did you guys practice that before I got here?__" __I asked. _

"_That was the first run through. We spent the first forty minutes arguing about the placement of the microphone stands and which cover we should do.__" __She shot Bill an annoyed look. _

"_Don__'__t look at me like that,__" __he pointed at her, __"__instrument placement is very important.__" __He walked towards the fridge and took out a bottle of water. _

_Sookie looked over at me, rolled her eyes and approached me, tugging on my hand and heading towards the drum kit. __"__Eric, this is Tara.__" _

"_Hey.__" __Tara gave a quick nod and shook my hand over her instrument. I had seen Tara before, it was impossible not to know everyone in Bon Temps, I had just never spoken to her before. She had a beautiful face, smooth dark skin, a luminous smile and big, bright brown eyes. _

_We were five good looking people who knew how to play our instruments. This was a promising mix, all we needed was a little hard work, some luck and we__'__d be playing arenas in no time. _

"_It__'__s nice to meet you.__" __I smiled at her. __"__You__'__re a good player, much better than the other guy we had.__" __I laughed awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck. _

"_Anyone is better than Terry.__" __Bill dismissed as he walked up to his backpack and took out his notebook. __"__I__'__ve written two new songs.__" __He declared sitting down on the floor letting the book fall open. _

"_Oh, I__'__ve been writing too!__" __Sookie exclaimed as she pulled a notebook out of her bag. She looked back at all of us. __"__Have you guys been writing?__" _

"_No, no. I write the songs.__" __Bill interjected as I went to grab the journal I wrote all my lyrics in. _

_"Is that right?" Sookie stared at him. __"__How many songs have you written, like ever?__" __She jutted out her hip and placed a hand on it. _

"_Including these two, five.__" __He said triumphantly. _

"_How many years have you guys been a band?__" __Her lips pulled into a cocky smile. _

_It had taken Bill two years to write five songs, he was going to lose this round. __"__Fine, whatever, what do all of you have?__" __Bill asked motioning for all of us to sit down. _

_We sat down, Sookie and I grabbing our guitars, Alcide gripping his bass and Tara grasping her drum sticks as we began to see what Bill had. _

"_'In the Meantime__' __is your best out of all of these." Sookie said after going over all of Bill's lyrics. She ripped the pages out of the book. _

_Bill snatched the book from Sookie's hand. "What are you doing?" He exclaimed. _

_"It'll be easier to change things if the lyrics aren't tied to the book." She smiled at him as she stood up going to grab more pens. _

_"What do you mean change the lyrics?" Bill did not handle criticism well. _

_"I mean," she handed out a pen to Alcide and Tara who didn't have anything to write with. "This is a good song but it's not a great one." She sat down. "There easy fixes too, like here, if you just repeat this lyric, it'll sound more full. Not all songs need to make sense Bill, they just need to sound good." _

_She picked up her guitar and began playing the chords I heard her playing in the hallway the day of her audition. _

_"What is that?" I asked her. _

_She shrugged. "Something in my head." _

_"We could apply it to this." I said looking down at the words Bill had written. "There should be four lines in this chorus though, not three." I said looking over it. I don't know what it was, the promise of our new members or just the completeness of the band but I was more vocal than I had ever been at one of our practices._

_Sookie looked over my shoulder as we began to think of something to insert. _

"_Maybe, _but all in all were just like you_?" Tara suggested pointing at the paper. __"__If we are going with the repeating of words in the first line, I mean. Put it here, in between the second and the last lines."_

_"Hey!" Bill whined as we changed his work. _

_"Okay Sook, when I point at you play the hook." She nodded. _

We love the all the all of you

_I sang and pointed at Sookie and she played the riff. It worked but Bill wasn't convinced."This is not what I had in mind when I wrote this song." He admitted clearly distressed. _

_I huffed and Alcide pointed his pen at Bill. __"__Dude if you want to be a solo act go ahead but you wanted a band, so here we are and in a band this is what the song writing process is like. So get on board or get out." Alcide was calm when he said these words as he looked at Bill. Alcide was almost never serious, he never took anything too heart and he rarely got annoyed, so the fact that Bill was irritating him was a big deal. _

_He stared at Alcide and let go of the breath he had been holding in. Bill was a type A personality, he liked being in charge and he liked getting his way. "Can you plug the guitar into the amp and try again?" He asked. _

_Sookie stood and plugged herself in and looked at me, waiting for me to sing. _

We love the all the all of you

_The sound of the music filled the garage. She stopped and looked at me. "Can I just keep going if I can hear the chords in my head?" She asked and I nodded. "Okay I'm not going to stop so keep singing." She smiled and rearranged herself so she was ready to play. _

We love the all the all of you/where lands are green skies are blue/but all in all were just like you/we love the all of you

_I smiled at her and then at Bill. "That's not a bad chorus." _

_Bill nodded with a faint slime on his lips. There was nothing like hearing the words you wrote being put to music, it could make even the grumpiest person happy. __"__Can I sing it this time?__" __He asked walking to the microphone as I nodded. _

"_I think having a second guitar would really build the sound.__" __Sookie said looking at me. _

_Alcide stood and plugged his bass in. __"__Let__'__s go again." He smiled as he gave Tara a high five as she passed him on her way to her kit. _

_We spent the next three hours sorting out his lyrics and finding the right chord progression, backup vocals, percussion and discovered a heavy bass line was perfect for the verses before we decided to take a break. _

_"I think we should learn to play some covers so we have filler when we play gigs." Sookie stated as she put her guitar on the couch and sat down beside it. "Maybe we can all pick a song and learn how to play it." _

_"Gigs?" Bill questioned. _

_Sookie's brow furrowed as her eyes darted around the space. "Yeah a gig. You know where we get up on stage and perform the songs we worked so hard to produce. We'll need to learn some covers to take up time until we write enough songs." _

_"I know what a gig is but I've never been able to book one in Bon Temps. The only good place is Bellefleur's and he won't even listen to me." Bill__'__s tone was discouraged as he shook his head. He wanted this band, he wanted to make music, he wanted the success more than any of us and the fact that he couldn__'__t make it happen weighed on him. _

_"Let me handle Andy and maybe we'll have to look outside of Bon Temps. Other towns and cities." She yawned._

_"Outside of Bon Temps?" He questioned. _

_"Yeah if were going to make it we're going to need to play in towns and cities bigger than Bon Temps but we'll figure that out later. Your goal is to create a successful band, right?__" __She asked. _

_Bill nodded. _

_"Okay so you're going to have to get used to traveling. In terms of covers I think we should learn 'Welcome to the Jungle'". _

_Bill didn't fight her on the playing outside of Bon Temps subject any further and instead put forth a suggestion."I think we should continue to learn __'__Stranglehold'." _

"_'Are You Gonna Go My Way'." Tara piped up. _

"_'Stuck in the Middle with You'." Alcide said excitedly. _

_Everyone looked over at me as I went through the endless list of songs I'd would have loved to perform with these guys. "Um, how about 'I Believe' by Stevie Wonder." _

_"Awe, I love that song." Sookie cooed, the sweetest shade of pink creeping up into her cheeks. I couldn__'__t help but smile at her. _

_Her eyes went wide and she looked towards Bill. __"__Oh, what is your band name?__" __she asked pulling her hair out of it__'__s ponytail. _

"_Suicidal Canyon and the Thirteen.__" __Alcide said proudly. _

_Tara and Sookie looked at us like we were nuts. __"__Seriously?__" __Tara asked. _

"_That__'__s one the worst band names I__'__ve ever heard.__" __Sookie said. __"__That needs to be changed.__"_

"_How about Tara and the Giants?__" __Tara suggested. Tara was short, well at least seven inches shorter than Sookie and Bill who were about six feet. _

"_Ooooo, I like that.__" __Sookie said with wide eyes looking between Bill, Alcide and myself. _

_"No." Bill said firmly. "Although I agree we need to change it. I want a rock name not a emo- eyeliner band name.__" __He went to the microphone and grabbed it. "Should we do a full run through of __'__In the Meantime__'__?" He asked looking at all of us. _

_Just then a tall scruffy blonde guy entered the garage. I recognized him as Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's brother. He was shirtless, slightly overweight, a pair of ripped jeans were hanging off his hips, a beer was in his hand and bags were under his eyes. He was a senior when I started high school as a freshmen. Back then he was quarterback of the football team, most popular guy in school, everyone loved him and then one day he just stopped showing up. "Sook, Gran wants to know if these people are staying for dinner." He burped, rubbing his stomach and picking at his belly button. _

_She looked over at all of us. "You guys want to stay? My Gran makes a really decent lasagna." _

_Tara and Alcide nodded in unison. "Sure." They said at the same time. _

_"Are you sure?" I asked. "I don't want to put you out." _

_"Gran wouldn't have asked if you were putting us out." She cocked an eyebrow. _

_"I have to call my mom but it should be okay." Bill said fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. He was the only one of us who had one but he was the only one of us who came from a family who could afford to give him one. _

_She looked over at her brother. "Yeah, they'll stay." _

_He turned and left without saying anything as we all started to put our instruments in their cases. "What are you all doing?" Bill shouted frantically. _

_"Putting our shit away." Alcide said like Bill was a control freak, which he was. "You need to relax man, get laid." He smacked Bill on the back. _

_"How's that going anyway?" I asked him. "Lorena?" Bill and Lorena had been dating for nearly three years, since she was a sophomore and he was a junior. _

_"I think she's cheating on me." He said running his hands through his hair. _

_"Why?" Sookie asked with a inquisitive tone. _

_Bill directed his attention towards her. "Because we had," he struggled with the next word, looking away from all of us. _

_"Sex?" Sookie said loudly and confidently. _

_Bills cheeks flushed and I couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, we did it a handful of times and now she doesn't want to do it anymore. I assume she's getting it elsewhere." _

_"Do you pressure her?" Sookie asked opening the garage door waiting for everyone to exit. _

_"What?" He spat at her. Bill didn't like questions and the one thing I knew about Sookie was she was full of them. Questions and opinions. _

_"When you ask her if she wants to have sex and she says no do you whine and complain like a little bitch? Do you ask her why not? Do you tell her that if she loved you she would do it?" Sookie looked at him with an expectant look on her face moving backwards towards her home. The sun was just starting to set behind her. _

_His face went even redder. "Sometimes." _

_"You're her boyfriend, I'm assuming she loves and trusts you and she probably feels insecure and threatened now that you're pressuring her. Like all you want her for is sex." She hopped up the stairs to her front door. "So instead of pestering her ask her about her day and actually listen. Cuddle her, make her feel safe and learn what she likes in bed so she enjoys sex too, so it's not thirty seconds of you thrashing around on top of her before you blow your load like a bottle rocket." She grinned, proud of herself. _

_I bit my lip to suppress a laugh. _

_"Listen to her Compton, girls love it when you make them think you care what they think." Alcide chuckled entering the house. _

_Sookie rolled her eyes as Tara smacked Alcide on the back of your head. "You be sweet, Alcide Herveaux." _

_"And this is how many men have pleased you in the past?" Bill challenged, not breaking eye contact._

_"People don't really find me attractive." She said holding his gaze. _

_"I can't imagine why." He said sarcastically._

_I pushed him into house. "Lay off Bill." He looked at me before going inside. I looked down at Sookie. "Sorry about him." _

_"I can handle myself." She said emotionlessly as we both entered the house. __"__Dining rooms there.__" __She pointed around the corner as she went into the kitchen. _

_I came around the corner and nearly knocked Adele Stackhouse over. I managed to prop her up and keep all the plates in her hands from tumbling to the floor. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Stackhouse." I took the plates from her. "Here let me set the table." _

_"What's your name, young man?" She questioned pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose smoothing a wisp of white hair back into her ponytail. _

_"Eric Northman, ma'am." I said placing all the plates in the proper spots. _

_"Ah, yes I know you parents. They haven't been in church lately." She chided me. _

_I didn't know what to say to her. I was an atheist and I think my parents just started loving their Sunday mornings in. "Yes, ma'am."_

_"Gran!" Sookie said reprimanding her grandmother as she entered the room. "That is not your business." _

_Adele nodded her head and looked at me with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Eric." Her attention was torn away from me over to Bill. __"__Bill, forks go on the left!" She shook her head as she walked back into the kitchen yelling Jason's name. _

_"Sorry." Sookie said flushing red. "I always forget how crazy my family is until strangers are around." She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. _

_"I like your Gran." I said sitting in the spot beside her. Bill flanked her other side. __"__She__'__s funny.__" _

"_Well I__'__m glad someone thinks so.__" __She smirked. _

_"I hope you like lasagna," Adele said with Tara and Jason following behind her. "I made three of them." _

_"Three lasagnas are my favourite meal." Alcide beamed up at her. _

_Adele grinned down at him pinching his cheek. "Aren't you sweet." _

_We dished up and ate in silence for awhile. "This is really good Mrs. Stackhouse." I said with a smile. _

_"Well when Sookie told me she had people coming over I wanted to do something nice. She's never brought friends over before." _

_"Gran." Sookie moaned in embarrassment sinking into her seat. _

_"That's because she doesn't have any." Jason teased. _

_"Fuck you." Sookie said throwing a piece of bread at him. _

_"Both of you stop right now!" Adele bemoaned. "Jason a dollar to the asshole jar and Sookie a dollar to the swear jar." She said pointing at both of them. _

_"Asshole jar? Swear jar?" Tara asked with a chuckle. _

_"I decided one day that something good was going to come out of the fact that these two act like animals. If they swear a dollar in the swear jar and if they are an asshole to each other then a dollar in the asshole jar." She took a bite. "A little money to help send them to college." _

_"To go to college you need to graduate high school first." Sookie shot at her brother. _

_"Asshole jar, Sookie!" Adele shouted at her. _

_Sookie let her head fall on the back of the chair and growled in discontent. _

_Adele asked about the band and Bill proceeded to talk about it for nearly fifteen without taking a breath or at least that__'__s what it felt like. _

"_But what are your plans if it doesn__'__t work out?__" __Adele asked, __"__from what I understand getting into the music industry is very difficult.__" _

"_I haven__'__t really thought of a plan B.__" __Bill said wiping his mouth with a napkin. __"__This is my only option.__" _

_Mrs. Stackhouse nodded her head slowly and looked to Alcide. __"__And you, young man?__" _

"_Football.__" __He said, his mouth full of food. _

"_And if football doesn__'__t work?__" _

"_Dentistry.__" __He took a long sip of the grape juice he had poured for himself. _

_Adele looked over at Tara. __"__Um,__" __she swallowed whatever food she had in her mouth quickly. __"__I was thinking about getting into computer programming.__" _

"_I figured I__'__d probably become a music teacher.__" __I said without being prompted. _

"_Sookie doesn__'__t know what she wants to be.__" __Mrs. Stackhouse said. _

"_I want to be a writer.__" __Sookie said quietly pushing her remaining food around on her plate. "I've told you this about a hundred times."_

"_It__'__s not very realistic Sookie.__" __Adele said patting her hand. __"__I want her to be a doctor.__" _

"_I hate blood.__" __Sookie__'__s nose crumpled in disgust. _

"_You__'__ll grow out of that.__" __Mrs. Stackhouse breathed in deep. __"__Alright, lets clear the table. Sookie and,__" __she scanned the table. __"__Eric, you__'__re both on dish duty. The rest of you will help clean up here and then you can all disperse.__" _

_All the dishes were collected and it was decided that I would dry and she would wash. I could see the steam rising and her skin was turning pink since the water was so hot. We worked silently. I watched how pieces of her hair fell out of her ponytail and grazed her cheeks, the nape of her neck and upper back. Her lips were slightly parted and her eyes were intense, focusing intently on her task. _

"_What do you want to write about?__" __I asked her, the broken silence startled her. _

"_Um, I guess I mainly write poetry.__" __She took her hand out of the water to push some of her hair away from her face with the back of her hand. __"__Poetry that I turn into music but I also like fiction. I have an idea for a book series.__" _

"_About what?__" _

"_Aliens, I guess.__" __Her cheeks flushed. __"__I__'__ve always felt pretty alien myself.__" _

"_Aliens isn__'__t really a plot.__" __I smiled at her. It was nice that I didn__'__t tower over her. I liked that I could look her in the eye without having to lower my gaze or change my pose or posture. I could stand tall for once, I was eternally slouching to bring me down to everyone else__'__s level. _

"_Well maybe I__'__ll tell you about it someday.__" __She smiled. _

"_And that.__" __I pointed at her tattoo. I could see it more clearly now. It was Alice falling down the rabbit hole and some text underneath it. _

_She let out a laugh. __"__Oh yeah, I just got that. My father__'__s favourite book was __'__Alice in Wonderland__' __and I got this to remember him, in honour of him. I added the __'__we__'__re all mad here__' __to make me feel less alone. We__'__re all freaks and eventually I__'__ll find my place.__" _

"_So you were close with your father?__" __I asked as she handed me the last plate. _

"_As close as an eight year old can be with their dad.__" __She turned to look at me as she wiped her hands dry with a dish towel. _

_"And your Gran was alright with you getting a tattoo?" I asked mildly shocked. _

_"She says it's my body and I have to live with what I do to it. It's not really her business." _

"_Did the tattoo hurt?__" __I asked. _

"_You ask a lot of questions, you know that?__" __The corner of her mouth pulled into a smile. _

"_I__'__m curious.__" __I shrugged. _

_She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head. __"__Okay, lets get back out there before Compton blows a gasket.__"_

_She turned around and went out the back door. The moment her feet hit the lawn she started sprinting to our rehearsal space. _

_Once we were in the safety of the garage we plugged in our instruments and played __'__In the Meantime__' __for the first time. _

_It would eventually become our fifth number one hit._

* * *

**So what did you all think? **

**I don****'****t know anything about song writing or a lot of music terms so I am doing my best. I****'****ve been told that a song can take minutes or years to write so I****'****m going off what others have told me. If you know things about song writing or music please feel free to review or PM me with your comments and knowledge on the subject.**

**The two songs in this chapter are Stranglehold by Ted Nugent and In the Meantime by Spacehog. I have left links to them on my profile if you are interested. **

**As for Summer Nights, I****'****m having a lot of trouble with the new chapter. It****'****s written but the editing process is killing me. Also it****'****s really hard to write a story about summer when it****'****s minus 30C but it****'****ll happen. I swear. I also have a thousand other ideas in my head and I****'****m so distracted. **

**Anyway please review if you have a moment, reviews are my life blood. **

**Thank you so much for reading!**


	8. There's Blood On My Hands

**A/N: Thank you to kinnik, ciasteczko, Perfecta999, ashmo2000, Tynee23, Shantigal, ljhjelm49, MsNorthman, LostInSpace33, Beth - Geek Chick and the guest who reviewed thank you so much for taking the time to do so. I love reading them. **

**I want to give a special thank you to outinritefield1 for always reviewing and the messages she sent me a little over a week ago. I know it may have seemed like nothing to you but you reminded me I needed to write for myself and not for others. Thank you for that.**

**Thank you to kelpie169 for editing this chapter. **

**We are back to Sookie's POV. In the last Sookie chapter they had just reached the island and I'm continuing on from there. **

**Just so everyone knows I am alternating between the present (Sookie's POV) and the past (Eric's POV). If you don't care about there past then I suggest only reading the even numbered chapters cause they will always be Sookie. **

**Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Life was easy on the island.

Luna and Sam arrived the next day, as promised, and we all settled in. We didn't do much the first week we were there; we slept, we ate, we tanned by the pool and explored the area. No one talked about music and no one talked about writing. There was no shop talk and most importantly no one mentioned Bill.

We were on vacation and vacations were about rest.

And then day eight happened.

I was sleeping soundly, blissfully unaware of my surroundings only to be jarred awake by what sounded like a fog horn. I jolted upright in bed, flailing my arms in hopes of destroying whatever was making the god forsaken sound. I faced the direction the noise came from, my legs curled up under me as I tottered precariously in my half awake state. I did all of this without opening my eyes.

"Up!" I heard Eric's voice demand. "Get up!"

I opened my eyes and shot him a look of death. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"It's time to get up, Sookie!" He blew the fog horn again.

"Stop doing that!" I shouted at him. I stumbled toward him and tried to pry the horn away from his ridiculously strong grip. "Where did you get that?" I asked.

"I found it." He shrugged as he fired it again in my direction, a stupid smirk plastered across his face.

"Everyone is going to be super pissed when you wake them up blasting that thing!" I trudged across the room to pull on a shirt after I realized I was topless.

"It's eleven o'clock in the morning and everyone has been up for hours. Now, get your ass into some workout gear and meet me on the beach in fifteen minutes. I'm whipping you into shape." He left my room and I watched as he headed out the back door.

I growled in frustration and yanked on tight black capri yoga pants. I traded the huge T-shirt I'd thrown on for a tank top that said 'I hate running' on it before I shoved my feet into some running shoes. The last thing I grabbed was a pair of sunglasses before I grudgingly headed out back.

Everyone was already awake, just like Eric had said. Debbie, Tara and Luna were all lined neatly in a row atop their colourful beach towels, working on their tans. It looked like Debbie was sleeping, Tara was listening to music as she drummed her fingers against her leg and Luna was reading. LaFayette, Alcide, Eggs and Sam were doing cannonballs into the pool and rating each other's splashes. I hadn't seen any of the guys wear a shirt since we had arrived and all the girls were more or less always in bikini tops and short shorts.

I heard the fog horn sound again and turned my attention towards the beach where a shirtless Eric was looking in my direction. He was wearing workout shorts, running shoes and aviators. His bare chest was already covered in a layer of sweat, shimmering in the sunlight. He waved me over though I gave him the finger before I stubbornly crossed my arms over my chest. He huffed and fired the foghorn again, making more grandiose gestures for me to come over to him.

"You better go over. He's in Richard Simmons mode and he's not gonna give up till you do whatever workout he has planned for you." Alcide smiled at me as Sam jumped into the pool, a wave of water cascading over the sides.

"What about that one?" Sam asked excitedly when he surfaced.

"It was weak, bro- like a five." Alcide said with a grin as he pulled himself out of the pool.

"Fuck off! That was at least a seven." Sam shouted at him before looking over at me. "Morning Sook." He beamed before he swam over to bother his wife.

I rolled my eyes and headed towards the beach. Eric was smiling at me as I neared him. "Was all this really necessary? If you wanted me to workout you could have just asked." I smiled at him.

"And you would have said no." He thrust the fog horn into the sand and picked up a bottle of spray-on sunscreen. "Hold your arms up." I did as I was told and he sprayed a thin layer of lotion on me before he rubbed the cream onto my bare skin. Once he was satisfied he threw the sunscreen back on the sand and began to stretch.

I copied his movements; I was slightly less than graceful, though I managed. I was always terrible at exercising and never knew what to do without someone showing me, even after years and years of personal trainers. "So what are we doing today?"

"We are running to that point and back." He pointed to the part of the island that curved around out of sight way off in the distance.

I stared at him with shock painted on my face. "Seriously? That's at least three miles away." I said to him, my arms unconsciously crossing themselves over my chest again.

"Four actually." He started lunging.

"How exactly do you know that?" I asked him.

"I've been running it every morning since we got here."

"And what's the point of this?" I asked as my hands dropped to my hips.

He stood up tall and looked down at me. "You're weak. You let your body and mind wither away and I want to make you strong again."

"I'm not weak." I whined, insecurely.

"Yes, you are. But you won't be for long." He started jogging in place. "If you fall behind, I'm going to tickle you." He threatened.

My heart dropped into my stomach. I hated being tickled; I absolutely loathed it. It made me irrationally angry when anyone tried to do it. "You wouldn't."

"I would. I'm willing to do anything to wake you up." He said as he moved a few steps away from me.

"I'm awake right now!" I threw my arms up in defeat.

"Your eyes are open, but you're not awake. Now come on!" He shouted at me as he made his way down the beach.

"I'll need water!" I shouted at him as I stalled.

He turned, fishing two mini bottles of water out of his pockets, and waved them tauntingly in my direction. With a smirk, he shoved them back where he'd found them and turned to continue torturing me. I sighed as I pushed myself to catch up. I set a pace that didn't quite match his, but didn't put too much distance between us.

I was doing fine-and actually feeling good-until the seventh mile on the way back. I just couldn't run anymore. I slowed to a walk, clutching my side and gulping in deep breaths as cramps began to form in my abdomen. Eric ran up to me and handed me a little bottle of water.

"What's the problem?" He asked as I downed half the contents of the bottle in one gulp.

I shook my head. "I can't run anymore. I'll walk the rest of the way back."

"You can walk the rest of this mile and run the last one." He commanded as he walked beside me, his breathing deep and heavy.

"No. I ran six and a half miles. Considering I haven't done any physical activity in nearly five months, I think that's a pretty good start."

"It's not good enough."

"I don't give a shit if it's not good enough. I'm exhausted and I want to walk the last mile." He scurried in front of me and stopped. "What are you doing?" I asked him, still panting as sweat dripped down my skin.

"I told you what I'd do if you stopped running." His expression was serious and his tone was curt.

"If you tickle me Eric, I swear to God I will cunt punt you in the throat." I spat. He was starting to piss me off and I could feel the red hot fire of annoyance building inside me.

He started towards me and I moved to deflect him, but he was faster than me. His fingers grazed my side and I smacked his hand away. "Don't fucking touch me!" I snapped at him.

"Run!" He shouted at me.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I asked as I put my hands against his sweaty chest and pushed him with all my strength. I managed to knock him back slightly as I propelled myself forward, putting some much needed space between us.

When he caught up to me he growled, anger highlighting every line of his face. "You wanna know what's wrong with me?"

"Yes!" I yelled back at him. "I have no clue what you want from me!"

"I want you to be like you were!" He shook his head and ran faster. I accelerated to keep up with him as pain flooded my body. "You've been comatose; your smile doesn't reach your eyes. You talk about music, but you don't really care and you barely talk to anyone about anything. When you do talk to us it's only because you've been drinking or you're high. You're fine for a couple of days, but then you pull away again." Despite the volume of his voice, the concern it held still leaked through. "I want my friend back!"

"Which friend, Eric? Him or me? Don't take your anger out on me for what he did!" I spat at him, the anger surging hotly through my veins at the stark reminder of my ex.

"Kinda like how you took out your hurt and anger out on us? You're a fucking hypocrite!" There was so much venom in his voice that I reared back sharply. This was when I hated our relationship the most; I didn't understand why he had to be like this. We had been doing so well for so long that an argument of this nature was bound to happen.

I didn't respond. I just turned and sprinted away, pushing myself harder until I reached the house and collapsed on the sand as I tried to catch my breath. Eric fell down beside me and neither of us moved for a long time. We just laid in the sand listening to the ocean, our breathing strangely in sync as the sounds of our bandmates drifted toward us from above.

"Sook?" He asked quietly, breaking our long silence.

"I'm not going to be the same as I was." I finally said and I could feel his eyes on me. "There are going to be days when I'm great and everything is fine. But there are going to be days and weeks where I am not okay and nothing is fine. It won't always be like that though. I just need a lot of time time to find my new normal." I finally turned my head, my eyes misting slightly as I faced him. "I'm sorry if that's not good enough for you, but that's just the way it is."

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I don't know what to do, I just want to help you." He turned over on his side and pushed his glasses up on his head.

"No, you want me to deal with my feelings like they do in the movies. Like a pint of Ben and Jerry's and a John Cusack movie will erase ten years of my life. That's not the way it works. If I need your help or if I want to talk, I will come to you. I promise. Okay?" I tried to reassure him with a soft smile, though I'm not entirely sure I managed.

He nodded before a grin overtook his face and his hand reached over to tickle my side. "Okay."

I smacked his hand away and stood up. "You're starting piss me off, Northman." I kicked a little spray of sand at him. "I'm gonna go shower."

"Alright. Meet me in the studio when you're done." He rolled over in the sand, his sweat slicked skin collecting more sand than he'd already been covered in. "I'll gather the others and we'll write. Bring your notebook."

I nodded and headed to my room, stripping on the way through to the bathroom. The water felt divine as I scrubbed and buffed myself clean. Once I was sufficiently dry, I changed into striped high waisted shorts and a cropped black tank top. My feet slid easily into my trusty black flip flops and I grabbed my notebook on the way out the door. I ambled leisurely through the house, taking my time as I headed out to the detached recording studio behind the far side of the house.

The studio wasn't too large, which was just fine for our needs. The recording space was a good size with old rugs covering the floor. There was also a medium size producing area and a boardroom, which was where I finally found everyone. There was a long conference table in the middle of the room with eight black leather office chairs surrounding it. The far wall housed a small kitchenette with two small cupboards, as well as a fridge and sink. The couches lined on each side wall look awfully comfy too.

I sat down and threw my notebook on the table as I shot a smile toward Tara. Then Eric started talking and everyone became focused. "This album is going to be difficult to write, difficult to perform and difficult to produce. While we're happy to have LaFayette, losing Bill will change the way we do everything."

We all nodded in unison.

"Are we still on board for a completely collaborative album? All ideas are in until it's proven they don't work?" He glanced around the room. "If you want to sing-speak up. If you want to play a different instrument-speak up. If anything isn't working for you-_speak up!_ Don't stay silent, okay?"

We all nodded, various degrees of a smile on all our faces.

"So, we've written one song but obviously we need more. We have enough experiences and heartbreak between us, so there has to be a few more songs already amongst the five of us." Eric opened his journal and began flipping through it.

"You still need to teach me that song." Tara pointed at Eric, her lip pushing out into a pout. "And I'm still pissed you wrote something without me."

"It's not set in stone Tara. If you want to change something once you hear it just say something." Alcide said softly with a warm smile. Alcide and Tara had always had a close relationship. It spawned when Bill and I started dating and Eric was friends with us. I know the both of them felt a little left out and rested on each other for comfort and support. After thirteen years of this, they had an understanding with each other that the rest of us were not privy to.

"I only have choruses and verses. Nothing complete." Eric admitted.

"I have a skeleton of something. but it'll need filler." Tara said as she ripped out the page and tossed it into the middle of the table.

"I'm in the same boat as Eric; pieces, but nothing whole." Alcide said ripping out the sections he liked as Eric began doing the same thing.

"I have one song and other random parts." LaFayette said as he realized what we were doing. He followed our lead and began ripping things out of his own notebook.

Eric picked up the piece of paper with the full song on it. "'We Used To Be Friends'?" He asked as his eyes darted between LaFayette and the lyrics, his eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline.

"I started writing it the day after I met you all." He averted his eyes from all of us. "I felt like an outsider. I don't know what it's like to be friends with Bill; you all used to be friends. So I wrote a song about your relationship from an outsider's point of view but as if I was an insider." He shrugged.

"That's a smart idea." Tara praised, as she held her hand out for a high five from Lafayette.

He smacked her hand softly before rubbing the closely shaved hair on his head in a self conscious manner. "Feel free to change it."

"Thanks man. This is actually really awesome." Eric smiled and turned to me. "Sook, what do you have?"

"Nothing." I said, knowing this would cause another fight.

"I know you have something." Eric sighed, rubbing his face. "Please don't be difficult. Please don't make this a fight."

"Let it go then." I bit out harshly as I ran my hand through my hair. "Just because I've written some stuff doesn't mean I want to share it."

"You are a part of this band, so you need to contribute. That's what _collaboration_ means." Eric said bluntly, a current of exhaustion under his words.

I crossed my arms over my chest for what felt like the hundredth time that day and cocked my eyebrow. "Where are all those songs you promised to show me? You've written something every day for fifteen years, right? Show me." I snarled.

"Not everything I write is worth sharing." He echoed my words.

"Now who's being difficult?" I questioned with a smirk.

"Oh my God!" Alcide shouted in annoyance, slamming his hand on the table. "Would you two just fuck and get it over with already?!" He got up from the table and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

His outburst caused us all to jump and my cheeks to flush. He twisted the cap off the bottle violently and drank audibly. He let out a soft sigh as he set the bottle down gently on the countertop. I glared at the table as he continued.

"We all get it. You have this cute push and pull relationship and you're BFF's, but you also kind of hate each other and there's sexual tension out the fucking ass. Neither of you could ever do anything about it because she," he pointed at me as he sat down at the table, "was balls deep in your," he pointed at Eric, "best friend. But guess what!? She's not anymore!" He took another long gulp of his drink. "I don't care if you ball this energy up and nothing happens or you get drunk and fuck. I don't fucking care, but this has to stop. I'm so fucking tired of it and so is Tara." He took an even longer swig of the beer, glaring at the bottle as he tipped the last drops into his mouth, and looked at the wall across from him. "Now Sookie- if you have shit, rip it out and put it in the fucking pile."

My cheeks were burning with embarrassment and I knew I was going red as I tore out the two songs I had written and any bits I liked. Jokes about Eric and I had always been a thing. It's hard for them not to be when two members of the opposite sex are friends, but it was never serious. I was with Bill and that was that. Now that I wasn't with Bill anymore, I was starting to wonder if the jokes were ever actually jokes or if they actually had a little truth to them. Alcide seemed to be dead serious with his comment.

It would be a lie if I had never thought about Eric in that way. I mean, how could I not? He looked like a Disney prince with tattoos and an attitude. When he wasn't being a moody bitch he was sweet, kind, sensitive and his talent mixed with his looks made him nearly irresistible. I had had a huge crush on him when we first formed the band but he never reciprocated and my feelings fizzled out when I got together with Bill. But now there was no buffer and I wasn't sure what, if anything, was going to happen. I didn't even know if I _wanted _anything to happen. I always assumed I wasn't his type.

Besides, he was out of my league and he could definitely do better. His past girlfriends were models, pop starlets and movie stars. I was just a girl from Bon Temps.

I looked up at Eric who was staring daggers at Alcide who was looking at one of the songs I had written. "Sook, why did you say you had nothing? This song has fucking chords to go with it." He shook his head and sighed as he passed the paper to Eric.

"Like I said-just because I'm writing doesn't mean I want to share." I hissed at him. I was angry at him because he had embarrassed me. "I'm not ready yet."

Eric looked up at me and pointed at the paper. "Play this. Now."

I glared at him, weighing my options. It was the angrier of the two songs, but it would draw up a multitude of feelings that I wasn't quite sure I wanted to drudge up. The anger, the sadness, the madness, the rejection, the loneliness-all the emotions I'd been drowning in recently.

But Alcide was right. No more fighting. If they wanted to hear it, then I would play it. "Fine." I sighed as I stood to trudge toward the recording booth.

Eric followed, shoving the paper toward me. "For reference."

"Don't need it." I bit out as I picked up my guitar, my phantom limb, and slung it over my shoulder.

"You want us in or out?" He asked, his lips pursed in annoyance.

"Whichever." I dismissed his question with a shrug.

Tara and Alcide stayed in the booth, just like I knew they would. They would try to play with me if they heard their part in my chords, but Eric wanted to watch me. He was always watching me.

I tuned the guitar, made sure the amp was at the right level and the microphone was working.

"I'm gonna record it." Eric informed me, almost daring me to argue.

I nodded though, uninterested in arguing. After our second album, we began recording everything. We all found it easier to hear the mistakes and decide what to change and what to keep. It was hard to hear the things that worked or didn't work in the moment.

I took a deep breath and started playing.

_Took a lonely feeling / Just to let the meaning / Sink like the sun goes down / Never close to heaven / Felt my feet were burning from the same red hot ground_

_There's blood on my hands, / There__'__s blood on my hands / Yeah, there's blood_

Playing this song wasn't second nature, I had to think, pay attention and my mind was forced to focus on the chords, but more importantly-the words. I couldn't ignore them or what they meant. I closed my eyes, which up until that point had been fixed on Eric.

_It's getting hard to listen / When the clock is ticking / Counting down the days gone by / Praying for an answer to another question / That will only leave you dry_

_You won't understand / With your head in the sand / No, you won__'__t_

I could hear Alcide already plugging in his bass and a slight cymbal flair as Tara got behind her kit. I opened my eyes again and focused on anything other than Eric.

_But I'll kiss the ground where you kneel / Till I grow my hair to my heels / Spike your water your wine / While you waste my precious time_

_Every time I drink and try to stop my thinking / Bout the things I've said and done / Stop the world from turning faster / Then I'm learning not to just hide and run_

_You won't understand / With your head in the sand / No, you won__'__t_

I could hear the wear in my voice as I continued to sing. It wasn't from the cigarettes or the alcohol. It was from having to drudge up these feelings over and over and over. My voice was thick with the all the the things I hated about Bill, all the things that made me sad about him and all the things I would always love.

_Love came and went faster than a penny spent in a slot machine / Nowhere near the devil, just somewhere in between you and me / Sworn to secrecy_

_And I'll kiss the ground where you kneel / Till I grow my hair to my heels / Spike your water your wine_

_Yeah, there's blood on my hands, / There__'__s blood on my hands / There__'__s blood on my hands, / There__'__s blood on my hands / Yeah, there's blood_

Alcide and Tara were doing an okay job of keeping up with me. But when I changed up the progression, their accompaniment faded into nothing.

_Took a lonely feeling / Just to let the meaning / Sink like the sun goes down / Never close to heaven / Felt my feet were burning from the same red hot ground_

I stepped away from the microphone and locked my gaze on Eric. "Is that what you wanted?" I asked him as my throat hitched and I felt the splash of tears on my chest. I didn't realize I had started to cry. I brought my hands up to my cheeks to scrub away the wet trails.

LaFayette leaned over and asked Eric something while pointing at me. Eric shrugged and said what looked like "I don't know" before leaning forward and speaking into the microphone. "What's it about?" He asked me.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked him with narrowed eyes.

"I want to hear it from you."

"It's about Bill and me. How I couldn't have changed the things he did and how it frustrates me; how helpless I feel and how I hate myself for still loving him as much as I do." I sighed. "But I handled the whole break up situation incorrectly and it's unfair that I made you guys into victims of my self loathing and anger. And while **he **destroyed our relationship, it's not entirely his fault. Every relationship takes two and my hands are far from clean."

"It's a great song, Legs." Alcide whispered from behind me.

"Do you want to play it again?" Eric asked as he and Lafayette entered the booth.

I shook my head. "No. For now, let's go through the song we wrote on the plane."

Everyone nodded and we taught Tara the song, which we ended up calling 'All These Things I've Done'. She threw in her suggestions and we all tinkered a bit before we settled on the changes we could all agree on.

It was a frustrating session. I had played against Eric for so long and I was so comfortable with him that it was a learning process playing against LaFayette. He was looking for my tempo and sorting my style, learning to play against me. Meanwhile Eric was struggling with the front man position. It was weird for him not to have something in his hands and he had no idea what to do with them. Should he sing the way Bill did or sing it the way he wanted? Tara and Alcide watched for changes and did what they could to make everything transition easier.

What kind of band were we now that Bill was gone?

Eric stopped the song halfway through with a frustrated sigh. "This isn't working."

We all stared at each other hoping one of us would have a suggestion. "Maybe we should just take a break and come back to it later?" LaFayette offered.

"He's right. We've been in here for like, six hours." Tara pointed out. "Maybe we pick this up in the morning."

I nodded as I set my guitar down and nearly bolted from the studio. I was overwhelmed, frustrated and angry. I was angry at myself for how hard it was to do this now when this was the only thing I was ever any good at. I headed for my room and closed the door, throwing myself face down on the bed to try possibly smothering myself into a sense of calm. And that's when I heard a knock at my door. "Come in." I didn't need him to announce himself, I already knew who it was.

Eric entered the room and came to sit on the foot of my bed. "I'm sorry."

"We're sorry an awful lot. Have you noticed that?" I said as I sat up to look at him.

"I don't know what's wrong with me, I just-"

I cut him off. "I know you want things to go back to normal. But like I said, you're asking me to get over ten years of my life in four months. It's not going to happen. So stop pushing me, let me be me and things will be fine."

He looked down at all the papers in his hand and swallowed hard. "This one is the sad one?" He asked as he showed me my other song.

I nodded. Eric knew how I wrote. I always wrote three songs, a happy one, a sad one and an angry one. But this time, there was no happy song.

"We'll I've got thick skin and an elastic heart." He read off the paper.

"But your blade it might be too sharp." I finished the lyric. "I have no melody. It's just words right now."

"We'll find something for it if you want." He reassured. "You wanna come watch TV? They are playing Stomp again!" He smiled widely.

I couldn't help but grin at his enthusiasm. "I wonder why they play it so much?" I asked as I got off the bed. There was a Brazilian channel that did nothing but play a filmed version of the stage musical Stomp. We had all watched it about eight times each.

"It's giving me ideas for a song. We could use a lot of percussion and objects to make sounds. It could be cool." He jumped off the ledge onto the couch. The lithe bastard had a slight issue with stairs. As in, he was too lazy to use them.

I sat down on the adjacent couch next to LaFayette, who was clearly talking to Jesus on the phone, and we watched Stomp.

Eric told me all the bits he liked, using feet and hands and "I love it when they hit the pipes!" He had told me _that_ multiple times, always demonstrating in a spectacularly spastic fashion.

LaFayette hung up the phone.

"How's Jesus?" I asked, not even trying to hide my smile.

"He's good. He's flying in next week, on his birthday no less." He grinned as he ran a hand over his head.

"On his birthday?" I questioned to make sure I heard him correctly.

"Well, you know what that means?" Eric asked with a wicked grin as we both looked over at him with blank expressions. "We're throwing a party!"

* * *

**I hope that was sort of satisfying and worth the wait. The smutty wonderfulness is coming, I promise. I'm trying to make this a practice in smut so there will eventually be a lot. **

**The song that Sookie sings in the chapter is called "Blood Hands" by Royal Blood. It's an awesome song that I have posted a link to on my profile page if you have any interest in hearing what it sounds like. **

**I'm 6 reviews away from 100. I didn't realize until I started writing the authors note. It's so amazing that you guys keep reviewing and reading even though I'm the slowest writer ever! Anyway if you can take time to review it would be more than appreciated and loved. I love knowing what you think. Also if you have a question or concern please message me. I will always message back. **

**Summer Nights fans - I have chapter 21 with my beta. I struggled immensely with it but I think I've over come my fear of writing this story again. It's happening. I've started writing chapter 22 and chapter 23 is more or less done. So more is coming eventually. **

**Thanks for reading and I hope to post again soon. **


	9. The First Time Is Never Good

**A/N: Sorry this one took so long but it****'****s here now. **

**Thank you to outinritefield1, Kelly, ashmo2000, ciasteczko, Perfecta999, jillapet, ljhjelm49, MsNorthman, Shantigal, MissRon, kink, LostInSpace33 and covenmama for review the last chapter. It means so much.**

**I also want to thank outinritefield1 for editing this for me. You are an amazing second pair of eyes. **

**This is from Eric****'****s POV which means we****'****re back in the past. I also want to mention that this is a six month jump ahead from the previous Eric chapter. **

**Someone also asked that I list the songs that they sing at the beginning of the chapter so you can follow along when they sing them. There is only one in this chapter, they sing it when they perform at Bellefleur****'****s and it****'****s called The Oaf (My Luck Is Wasted) by Big Wreck. It****'****s a fucking amazing song and Canadian and I suggest that you check it out. I****'****m linking it on my profile. **

**They do mention other songs and say lyrics from other songs but I****'****m only going to list songs they sing fully. **

**I hope you enjoy!**

_**April 15th, 2003 - 12:45pm - Bon Temps High Cafeteria - Bon Temps**_

* * *

_We more or less started living at Sookie__'__s house as we began writing what we hoped would become our first album. We kept spare clothes in Sookie__'__s room, toiletries in the bathroom and put mattresses on the ground in the garage when we stayed over on school nights. Gran had started grocery shopping for us so she could make meals she knew we would all like and the Stackhouse household was completely taken over by music. _

_We would meet for the five minutes between classes to discuss lyrics and how we could alter covers to make them fit our sound. Bill and Sookie argued incessantly about tune, melody, chord progression, back up vocals, bass lines and percussion. They agreed on nothing and fought each other on everything. This caused Alcide, Tara and myself to take the side of the person we thought was correct which lead to more arguing. As annoying as it was we usually ended up with a better song. _

_Sookie constantly asked about booking a gig but Bill never thought we were ready. We could always practice a little more, get the harmonies a little more unified and make the music a little tighter. _

_This was our life for six solid months before Sookie sat down with us in the cafeteria one afternoon. The band was exclusively hanging out with each other now, with the exception of Lorena who was coming to almost all of our practices and whoever Alcide__'__s flavour of the week was. I was secretly having sex with Jessica Hamby but it had to be kept a secret so her actual boyfriend__,__ Hoyt Fortenberry, a football player and one of Alcide__'__s friends, wouldn't find out. Jessica was one of the most popular girls in school, head cheerleader and incredibly hot. _

_It was becoming difficult to balance Jessica, the band and whatever feelings I was finding myself having for Sookie. Whatever sisterly reaction I was expecting to have for her didn__'__t manifest and I was on my way to developing a serious crush. _

_Sookie climbed over the seating, her incredibly longs legs making it difficult for her to sit, causing her to look awkward __as usual__. "Easy there Legs." I teased her. _

_She looked over at me with a death stare. "Don't call me that." She turned her attention to everyone else as she stole a fry from Alcide__'__s plate. "So guess what I did?" She asked excitedly. _

_"Found out that you were the victim of a _She's All That_ style bet to turn you into prom queen?" Alcide joked. _

_"Finally got a guy to kiss you?" Bill taunted. _

_"Took enough classes so you can graduate early?" Tara guessed. _

_"You got us a gig." I said confidently. _

_Her eyes lit up. "Yes!" She pointed at me. "Also__,__ thank you Tara for thinking I'm smart enough to graduate early__.__As__ for the two of you," she pointed at Bill and Alcide, "what is wrong with you both?" _

_"You got us a gig?" Bill questioned, his joking mood gone. _

_"Yes!" Sookie exclaimed. "Can I have half of that?" She asked pointing at my sandwich. This was typical of Sookie. She could afford her own lunch, she brought her own lunch but she always ate ours. She told me it tasted better when it belonged to someone else. I handed her the half I hadn't bitten into yet. _

_"Where?" Bill asked. _

_"__Bellefleur__'__s__." She replied her mouth full, little bits of food flying everywhere. _

_"How?" Bill seemed completely baffled that Sookie managed to do this. _

_"I asked and asked and asked and didn't stop talking until Andy finally said yes." She shrugged tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. _

"_When?__"_

"_This Saturday, it__'__ll be us five playing music as a band. I hope that answers all of your questions.__"__She said shoving the last of the sandwich into her mouth. _

"_How could you do this without consulting any of us? Without consulting me?__"__Bill was becoming flustered. The thing he wanted, his music career, had just become very real and he was nervous. Bill had never sung in front of anyone before other than the church congregation. _

"_We__'__ve been practicing for over six months now and you were always talking about how you wanted to play __Bellefleur__'__s__, here__'__s your chance. You want to play in a band and that means you gotta play gigs, unless you want to be one of those bands that never makes it out of the garage? I thought _this _was your _only_ option.__"__Sookie smirked at him. _

_Bill and Lorena were both staring daggers at her. Bill hated when people went over him and Lorena hated Sookie because she saw her as a threat. Bill was as into Sookie as any of us were. _

"_Well I__'__m stoked about this.__"__Tara said excitedly. __"__Thanks Sook.__"_

"_Yeah__,__ thanks Sookie.__"__Alcide said as he stood, slapping Sookie on the back. _

_She looked up at me. __"__You don__'__t need to thank me, your sandwich was thanks enough.__"__She stood up and winked. _

"_Where are you going?__"__I asked her. _

"_I have lunch detention cause I called Ben Flynn a dickhead.__"__She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she ran her hands __through __her hair. _

"_What for?__"__I inquired as I opened a bag of chips._

"_He said my tits were lopsided. He deserved it but of course he doesn__'__t get detention cause he__'__s on the fucking football team.__"__She growled in frustration. __"__Our principal is a misogynistic prick asshole__…"__She began mumbling to herself. _

"_You!__"__Bill shouted as he pointed at Sookie pulling her out of her inner rant. __"__We are all meeting at your place tonight for practice. We__'__ll probably sleep there, so let your parents know you're studying with whomever. We need to make sure we are perfect!" Bill was in full meltdown mode now. _

_"Bill we are perfect!" Sookie shouted at him walking away. "Calm down__,__ we'll practice and everything will be alright." She kicked open the cafeteria door while shaking her head and muttering, "Jesus." _

_"Bro, she's right, you need to calm down." Alcide echoed Sookie's words. _

_"I'll calm down once the gig is over." He huffed and left the cafeteria, Lorena following behind him. _

_I watched him go and looked over at Alcide and Tara. "On a scale of one to shit-show how bad do you think this is going to be?" _

_Tara shrugged. "I think it'll be fine. He just needs to do it. It's the first one and the first time is never good." She got up just before the bell rang and headed to her locker. _

_Surprisingly Tara's words actually comforted me. I shouldn't worry about doing an amazing job because the first time always sucked, for everything. So I was going to try my best and enjoy myself even __if __Bill didn't adopt this way of thinking. _

_**April 15th 2003 - 7:50pm - The Stackhouse Garage - Bon Temps**_

_I wasn__'__t surprised when we all arrived at Sookie__'__s and Bill was wound even tighter than when we saw him at lunch. __"__We should all wear black." He said pacing back and forth. _

_"Why?" Sookie challenged. _

_"So we look uniform." He stopped and looked at her. There was panic in his eyes and he looked manic so she didn't push him further. "We also need a set list." _

_"It's five songs man," I tried to reassure him, "we do two covers and three originals and we're done. Can you please relax? This is supposed to be fun and you're sucking a lot of that out of this." I put my hands on his shoulders and looked at him in the eyes. _

_He huffed, shaking me off, sitting on the floor next to Lorena. "I'm sorry, I'm just really nervous." He ran his hand through his hair. "I've never performed like this before.__"__He looked down at the floor and his cheeks flushed. __"__I__'__m not like this because I think you guys are gonna fuck up, I do this because I__'__m afraid I will, I need to be the best.__"_

_"It'll be fine." Sookie said to him with a smile. "Just pretend it's here, that Bellefleur__'__s is the garage and you'll be fine. You're __electric__,__ Compton."_

_Sookie was right, Bill had come alive in the six months since Tara and Sookie had joined. He was the same old Bill every other time, neurotic, sarcastic, high strung but the second we started to play and he stood behind a microphone or sat in front of a piano something changed inside of him and the rock God came out. _

_Lorena moved closer to Bill to establish her territory in response to Sookie's comment. Since Sookie had joined the band Lorena__'__s hair had become more and more blonde and her wardrobe became more and more simple. Even if Sookie and Bill didn__'__t realize they were drifting towards one another Lorena noticed__; __so did I and the idea of them together made my chest feel tight. _

_"So what three originals should we do?" Bill asked us relaxing, trying to enjoy the moment. _

_"Instant Pleasure." Alcide chimed in, he would want to play that song considering he was the inspiration. Alcide had been complaining one afternoon about how he didn't want to be loved by all the women he bedded, he just wanted sex whenever he wanted it. These words inspired something in Bill who began to write a chorus immediately. _

_Tara shook her head. "I don't think so." _

_Alcide shot her a hurt look. "Why not?" _

_"We are playing a redneck bar in a redneck town, we should be playing rock songs with country roots." Tara explained. _

_"Agreed." Sookie said. "We should play 'The Oaf'." _

_"'Ain't No Rest For the Wicked'." Bill suggested. _

_"And 'Hey I Don't Know'" I rounded out. I wanted to play that song because I had to sing and play the violin at the same time, a talent which had always impressed Sookie. _

_We all nodded in agreement. _

_"Then the covers should be 'Welcome to the Jungle' and 'Stranglehold'."Alcide __proposed__._

_"That's it." Bill smiled widely. __"__'Welcome to the Jungle__'__ as the opener, the three originals and then we close with __'__Stranglehold__'__." _

_"I like it." Tara admitted as she laid down on one of the make shift beds she usually claimed. _

_"So, do we still need to practice or can I go to sleep?" Sookie asked with a yawn._

_Bill shook his head. "We are practicing all night and none of us are sleeping at all this week." He stood and readjusted his keyboard. _

_We all groaned and picked up our instruments. Even though we were all exhausted I knew there was no place any of us would rather be. _

_We practiced every available minute for the rest of the week. We slept very little, skipped school and slept in Sookie's garage while her Gran generously kept the food and lemonade coming. We had all grown on her and we had all come to adore her. She cared for us like her own children, supported us, even listened to our practices from time to time when we needed an outsiders opinion. _

_**April 18th, 2003 - 8:45pm - The Northman Residence **_

_We had convinced Bill to let us have the night before the gig off. We needed to sleep or we were more likely to fuck up. I was getting ready for bed, puttering around downstairs shirtless in my flannel pajama bottoms when the there was a knock on the door. _

_"Mom!" I shouted hoping she would get it. When I heard the knock again I yelled her name even louder. "Mom!" When it was clear she wasn't coming I sighed and headed over to answer it. _

_Sookie was on the other side in her white tank top and black jeans, her backpack slung over her shoulder. I watched as her eyes went up and down my body and a hint of a smirk tugged at her lips. "Hello." She giggled. _

_"Hey." I said trying to cover my chest feeling very naked under her gaze. "What's up?" _

_"You left your backpack in my garage. I figured you might need it." She smiled. _

_"You drove all the way over here to give me my homework?" I questioned with a cocked eyebrow. _

_She shook her head. "I noticed it before my shift, threw it in my car, my shift has ended and here I am."_

"_Eric?" My mother, Alice, croaked. She came down the stairs of our modest two-story home in grey sweats and an oversized t-shirt with Minnie Mouse on it. My mother was blonde, 5__'__10, her build was curvy after three children and she was still beautiful even though age and day to day life had dulled some of her lustre._

_"Oh good god." I mumbled, rubbing my face as she approached us. I loved my mom, I always would but she was embarrassing and inappropriate as fuck. _

_"Eric who is this?" She sounded delighted. I had been with girls before but I had never brought one home. _

_"This is one of my bandmates Sookie Stackhouse." I said pointing to her as Sookie held her hand out. _

"_Oh,__"__her eyes widened realizing who she was, everyone in town knew the Stackhouse saga. __"__She__'__s beautiful Eric." My mother started to whisper__,__ even though she was still fully audible,__ ignoring __Sookie__'__s hand like she wasn__'__t actually there. __"__Is this your girlfriend?__" __She asked._

_I started to rub my face again to hide the flush that was creeping up. __"__Mom.__"__I groaned. _

_"Oooooo, Eric has a girlfriend." My nine-year old brother Damien taunted as he passed the foyer making kissing sounds. Damien looked like my father, his hair and eyes were a dark brown and his skin wasn__'__t as fair, he tanned easier. My mother was of Swedish decent while my father, Craig, was third generation American but he had Spanish ancestry on either side._

_"Why are you all so embarrassing?" I asked through my hands. I parted my fingers to look at Sookie who was looking at me with a wicked grin, biting her lip to suppress a laugh. _

_"I think she has pretty hair." My five year old sister Clara proclaimed as she padded up to Sookie and began tugging on her hand. My sister looked a lot like me and my mother; fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes._

_Sookie smiled down at her before crouching so they were at eye level. "I think you have very beautiful hair too." She said __finger__ing__ the ends of it. _

_"Can I show you my make-up?!__" __Clara exclaimed not waiting for Sookie to agree, if you showed Clara any attention you were immediately her friend, and began pulling her up the stairs. _

_Sookie looked back to me with wide eyes before she disappeared around the corner with my sister. _

_"She has really narrow hips though, won't be good for birthing children." My mom said shaking her head, patting my shoulder. _

"_Mom, please stop." I sighed as I ran up the stairs to save Sookie. _

_Clara was already putting electric blue eyeshadow all over Sookie's eyelids. "Do you kiss my brother?" She asked her as I pushed open the door. _

_I watched a flush creep into Sookie's cheeks. "No sweetie, we're just friends. We're in a band together." They were sitting on tiny bright pink plastic __chairs __-__ which__ was not easy for Sookie__'__s 5__'__11 frame. _

_"Are you the singer?" She asked moving onto blush which was way to dark and pink for Sookie. _

"_No, I'm the guitar player." She smiled opening her eyes and looking at me. _

_"I want to play but Eric won't let me touch his guitars." I couldn't see the frown on my sisters face but I could hear it in her voice. _

_"How about I bring mine over sometime and I'll teach you." Sookie smiled looking at Clara. _

_"Really?!" Clara exclaimed before wrapping her arms around Sookie's neck getting makeup all over her shirt. _

_"Sure." Sookie laughed hugging her back looking at me with a soft smile. __"__But you have to promise to be very careful with it.__"__Sookie warned looking back at Clara. _

"_I promise.__"__Clara nodded furiously. _

_Sookie looked back up at me and smiled deviously.__"__But I think we need to focus on the task at hand and if anyone needs a makeover, it's your brother." Clara stood up and looked at me while Sookie cocked an eyebrow. "What do you say Northman? You man enough to get into the chair?" _

_I stared at her with what I hope was annoyance but in the end I just ended up grinning at her. "Fine." I said sitting on my sisters bed. "But you don't tell anyone." _

_She shook her head and made a cross motion over her heart. "And hope to die." _

_Sookie and my sister worked on me for nearly thirty minutes. Sookie took a step back to admire her work. "You are a pretty dude, man." She said before laughing and falling onto the bed beside me. _

_Clara jumped up and began putting my hair into ponytails before I shooed her away. "That's enough. You need to go to bed." I said to her as I stood and picked her up, tickling her sides causing her to squeal with laughter. _

_Sookie stood up, I pulled the covers down and put Clara under them. "Sookie, you're gonna come back right?" She asked with a yawn as she rubbed her eyes. _

_"Sure kiddo. Next weekend I'll bring my guitar and we'll practice okay?" Sookie smiled. _

_Clara nodded and rolled over as we both left her room quietly and turned off her light. I turned back to look at Sookie who was looking up at me, her makeup was as ridiculous as mine I was sure. "Sorry about all this. I'm sure this isn't what you bargained for when you dropped off my bag." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. _

_She shrugged. "It was nice actually. I never really had this kind of family or home life." She turned and pointed to the door across from Clara's room. "Is this your bedroom?" She asked. _

_"It is." I said getting nervous with the idea of her being in my room. _

_"Is your mom gonna wig out if I go in?" She inquired as her fingers traced the doorknob. _

_I shook my head. "Go ahead." I said as smoothly as possible even though I was freaking out. I had never had a girl in my bedroom before. When I got together with Jessica it was always in hidden __places: __j__anitors__ closets, back seats of cars, the woods, pretty much anywhere that was quiet and alone. _

_Sookie opened the door and looked around taking everything in, dropping her bag on the floor. "You are very clean for a teenage boy." She commented as she slowly walked around my room. _

_My room was simple, a twin bed in the middle of the room with plaid flannel sheets. A few dressers, band posters and more embarrassingly a few posters of Kirsten Dunst and Kate Bosworth covered the walls. _

_"It only looks clean cause you're such a slob." I retorted. My comment was true. Sookie's room was a disaster, clothes everywhere, books scattered, guitar picks, strings and crumpled paper everywhere._

_"Touch__é__." She said with a smile. __"__So you like blondes?" She asked walking over to a poster of Kate Bosworth. __"__She__'__s a little obvious don__'__t you think?__"__She __asked grinning __at me. _

_I shrugged. __"__She__'__s alright.__"__I rubbed my arm nervously. I did not want to talk about my attraction to blondes right now with Sookie in my room, very blonde Sookie. _

_She jumped on my bed, lying back against the pillows as she took my journal into her hands. __"__What have you been writing lately?__"__She asked dropping her questions about my taste in women. _

_I walked over and took the book out of her hands. __"__Nothing, I__'__ve been writing nothing. I__'__m having writers block as of late." _

_"Ditto." She said sitting up looking at me. _

_"What's your problem?" I asked sitting beside her. _

_She shrugged. "It's hard to write about love when you've never been in love." She half smiled as she glanced at me. _

_"Well what do you have?" I asked her. "Maybe I can help." _

_"You've been in love before?" She questioned as she fished her notebook out of her bag on the floor. _

"_No,__"__I admitted. __"__Not yet.__" __I ran my hand though my hair pulling out all the hair ties Clara had put in._

_"Here." She ripped out a page and tossed it to me. "I'm trying to express wanting someone like the Earth wants to turn, or animals need to feed or the ground wants to reclaim our bodies when we die.__" __She moved over to me so she was looking over my shoulder, her front pressed against my back._

_I looked down at the only verse she had. _

I have never known peace like the damp grass that yields to me/I have never known hungry like these insects that feast on me/A thousand teeth and yours among them I know/ Our hungers appeased, our heartbeats becoming slow

_"I don't think I'll be able to finish it anytime soon. Maybe one day." She pushed all the hair out of her face, a majority of it brushing against my back. _

_I looked at her, her large brown eyes looking into mine, our lips only inches apart. I could feel her breath on my face when she breathed and I swallowed hard before speaking__.__ "__M__aybe__ if you wrote the chords the rest of the words will come." I suggested looking away from her. _

_I had a crush on her, there was no__ if__s__ ands or buts about it__. S__he __intimidated me and I was afraid of her rejection. I may have been able to land girls in the past and been told on occasion that I was __attractive__;__but it didn't change __the fact __that I was a teenager filed with paranoia, self loathing and self doubt. An innocent crush was easier to handle than the possibility of her saying no. _

_I picked up my acoustic guitar and handed her my electric. "I thought you didn't let anyone play you're guitars." She joked as she crossed her legs and positioned the guitar in her hands. There was something sexy about seeing her handle my instrument. _

_"Just my siblings, you are not a sibling." I __hopped__ up onto the bed with her and she began to __play__,__ e__ventually taking the acoustic out of my hands and playing it herself. We managed a chorus or two but mainly we talked about each other's __past__s__.__ I told her about my parents and siblings and my early life. How I was born in Houston and moved to Bon Temps so my mother could take care of my grandmother who ultimately passed away. My father was a construction worker and my mother stayed at home. _

_Sookie told me about her dad and what she remembered of him. How her mom had put her to bed one night and in the morning she just wasn't there. No note, no nothing. Sookie and Jason only being eight and thirteen at the time, lived alone for three days before Jason decided it was time to call their Gran. Their mother also saddled her Gran with all of her fathers hospital bills. _

_"That's the reason I work so much at the restaurant." She said scratching her head. "I mean Gran earns money here and there and Jason has a construction job but it's not always enough without me helping." She looked up at me with a sadness and a tiredness in her eyes I would catch from time to time. She looked past me and her eyes went wide. "Fuck, is that the time." She hopped up and grabbed her bag. "I gotta go." She smiled and opened the door rushing out of the room. _

_I got up quickly and ran after her, taking the stairs two at a time. I caught up to her just before she ran out the door, she turned and looked up at me. "Thanks for tonight, I had a lot of fun." She smiled sweetly before pushing up on her tippy toes and kissing me lightly on the cheek. She turned and ran quickly to her car and peeled out of the driveway. Among other things Sookie was a terrible driver. _

_I closed the door and felt the tingling of where her mouth had touched my skin. A heavy sigh passed my lips as I l__eaned against__ the door and whispered, "fuck." _

_**April 19th, 2003 - 5:45pm - Night of First Gig**_

_I had agreed to pick up Sookie and Tara from Sookie__'__s house two hours before we were supposed to go on at eight. The two of them were doing their hair and makeup and 'other girly shit' as Sookie had so lovingly put it. We needed time to get there and do sound check before we started. I loaded Tara's drums and Sookie__'__s guitars into the back of my truck before the two of them came giggling out of the house. _

_I knew I was in trouble the moment I saw her, both of them really. Tara's hair was pulled up and some of h__er hair was wrapped around her ponytail to cover the elastic and certain pieces were curled. Her eye makeup was purple, her eyeliner was winged and her lashes looked long and full. She was wearing a black tank top that cut off exposing her stomach which was tone__d__. Her pants were patterned white and black and tight and she had ankle high black sneakers on. _

_Sookie's hair was similar, the crown was teased and she had pulled it back into a full curled ponytail with some hair wrapped around the elastic. Her eye makeup was dark and __smoky __and her eye liner gave her a cat eye. Her cheeks were __highlighted__ with blush and her lips were covered with a dark cherry red lipstick. Her pants were tight and burgundy, her shoes were__ ankle high, black__ suede__,__ lace up__,__ high heels__.__Her__ tank top was also cut off exposing her midriff and bits of lace __were hanging__ down off the shirt. It was then I realized Sookie had another tattoo on the side of her rib. _

_I walked up to them and smirked. "Bill is going to be super pissed at you both, your pants aren't black." I pointed to both of their legs. _

_"I think he's going to be angrier with you." Sookie stated. "You're the one who is wearing a white t-shirt that says 'I have no tits__'__on it.__" __She grinned, slapping me on the shoulder before hopping into my truck. _

_The ride was quick and we got to the bar at six pm on the dot. Bill was already outside. "You're late." He chirped. _

_"We're not but okay." I helped So__okie out of the truck and Tara came around the other side which caused Bills mouth to fall open and not __be__cause he was wowed by them. _

_"I told you all to wear black." He said through gritted teeth as we all began to pull instruments out of the back of my truck. _

_"We are wearing black." Sookie said innocently as she moved past Bill towards the bar. _

_"Your pants are red!" He shouted at her. _

_She turned to look at him. "Actually they're burgundy, Bill." She gave a coy smile and disappeared into the bar. _

_I looked at Bill. "It doesn't matter what we're wearing. All that matters is that we're here, the music is good and we have a fucking gig! Be happy!" He looked up at me with no retort, wanting to micromanage but knowing I was right. "Now help Tara with her drums." _

_I walked up to the stage and looked at the small area that was set up for us. __"__Is this going to fit all of us?__"__I asked out loud as Sookie helped Tara set up her drums __while__ A__lcide was tuning his bass. _

"_We__'__ll make it work.__"__Bill said setting down Sookie__'__s amp. _

_After everything was set up and sound check was done we waited until eight in the back room._

_"I'm nervous." Bill admitted as he paced. _

_"We're all nervous, it's good to have nerves, it keeps you alert." Tara reassured._

_"Bill, you just gotta make all the guys want to be you and all the girls want to sleep with you. It's not hard." Sookie comforted. _

_"I'm not too thrilled about that last one." Lorena moaned grumpily. _

_"If you want to date a rock star you best get used to it__,__ sugar." She winked at Lorena with a huge grin __on__ her face. _

_This triggered Lorena's token scowl and death stare in Sookie's direction. _

_We sat in silence a little while longer, our nerves building to the point __where__ the air felt thick. _

"_What__'__s __this__?__" __I asked Sookie quietly as I ran the back of my finger along the tattoo on her side. _

_She smiled and leaned over pulling up her shirt. __"__It__'__s a guitar. It seemed fitting.__" _

"_Did you get this one in honour of anyone?__" __I questioned. _

"_In honour of myself and my bad ass guitar skills.__" __She joked, nudging me in the side_.

_I laughed as Andy b__arged into the room.__"__You guys are on__,__" __he__ said boorishly startling all of us. "Don't fuck it up." _

_We all stared at each other with anticipation. We knew it was just __Bellefleur__'__s__, we knew that this gig probably wouldn't lead to a record deal but it was the first. The first time we stepped onto a stage as one. This would be the gig chronicled in our _VH1 Behind the Music_ special. This was important and no matter how small__,__ we all knew it. _

_"Let's kill it." Alcide said standing up and pounding his chest with his fists, a tradition he no doubt picked up from football. _

_Tara took Sookie's hand while twirling her drumsticks in the other and they giggled as they went out the door behind Alcide. _

_I stood, holding out my hand to Bill. "It's do or die time Compton. You assembled us, now take us there." I smiled at him trying to be as encouraging as possible. _

_He looked over at Lorena and kissed her before she stood and left the room no doubt going to her seat. He took my hand and smiled back up at me. "It'll be fine." He convinced himself. _

_"Of course it will, do your thing and it'll fly by." I pushed him out the door still feeling his hesitance._

_The bar was packed and I couldn__'__t tell if it was the dinner crowd or people were there to see us. We had been canvassing all week, putting up flyers and telling anyone who would listen that we were playing __Bellefleur__'__s__ on Saturday night at eight. We even drove to Shreveport and put up a few posters there. _

_Adele was sitting at a table in the back with Alcide__'__s and Tara's parents. Mine and Bill's parents were at a table right beside theirs. _

_We got on stage and strummed quickly to make sure we were all still in tune. I looked over at Bill who still had his back to the audience so I took a step towards the mic. "How is everyone feeling tonight?" I asked only to be met by large amounts of feedback. The audience __visibly__ cringed as we adjusted our levels. "Sorry about that." I laughed awkwardly. "How is everyone doing tonight?" I asked again only to be met by a half assed response. "Okay well we are..." I trailed off realizing we hadn't named ourselves and laughed, "we actually don't have a name but we're here to play a few songs for you tonight. I really hope you enjoy them." _

_I looked over at Bill and worry came over me. I didn't know what it was, most likely nerves, but something was wrong. Bill wasn't ready and we had to start playing. We had been on stage for a full minute and nothing had happened. _

_I looked over at Sookie who was staring at Bill before walking up and whispering something to him. He looked up at her with a furrowed brow and she nodded and smiled. _

_At that exact moment someone in the bar shouted, "play something already!" _

_Which prompted Tara to yell into her microphone, "we are Tara and the Giants! 1,2,3,4!" She then pointed at Sookie who started to play 'The Oaf' and not 'Welcome to the Jungle." _

_I could see the panic on Bill's face. Not only had Tara just named the band without consulting anyone, Sookie had changed the line up. _

_Everyone followed in Sookie's footsteps immediately falling into to place and playing the song Sookie had decided upon. Bill's back was still to the bar and I was beginning to pray, screaming at him in my head for him to turn around!_

_Just before he had to start singing Sookie yelled his name, snapping him out of whatever daze he was in and he turned around stepping towards the microphone. _

Who'd you drag around my door/If I keep it cracked they won't be there no more/And who'd you leave along the way/Leave 'em there and don't come back today

_The levels were perfect, his voice was perfect and our playing was exceptionally tight. All the practice that Bill had forced us to do had paid off big time. It was effortless between all of us, we finally, truly in that moment became a band, a uniform unit. It didn't matter what we were wearing or what we looked like, the music was loud, crisp, clear and we sounded amazing. _

Now who's the one that treats you right/Yeah, leave 'em there and don't come back to fight/Now who's the lad that wants to be/It never was and it just can't be me

_Sookie and I took a step up to our microphones and aw__'__d in perfect harmony. Bill ran his hands through his hair and his body began rolling to the music, grabbing the microphone stand confidently. He was becoming, how Sookie liked to refer to it__,__ electric. Half the bar was watching us now and they were interested, especially the women. _

My luck is wasted/I'm on the run somewhere/My luck is wasted/I'm on the run somewhere

_It__'__s true what they say that the energy from the crowd makes the band give a better performance because Sookie was into it and so was Alcide, stomping their __feet __on the stage in rhythm with the music as the__y__ looked at each other smiling. I was worried the stage was going to fall apart._

Throw the rocks and break the glass/I'll get down on my knees and kiss your ass/Cause you're the one that be in my dreams/It never was and isn't what it seems

My luck is wasted/I'm on the run somewhere/My luck is wasted/I'm on the run somewhere

_Bill took a step back from the microphone and turned to me with a wild smile on his face, he was in his element and whatever fear he had only moments before was gone. Sookie began her guitar solo as she slowly hunched over her instrument watching her fingers work, her foot still stomping on the stage__,__ an action that prompted most of the bar to clap along to her playing. _

_She took a step back behind her microphone and we all prepared for a harmony we weren__'__t sure we were going to get right. It required all of us, joining at different times and we hadn__'__t gotten it right ever. _

Now who's the dragon at my door/I shot it now, it don't come back no more

_But this time we did. The adrenaline flowing through me was intense and in that moment I never wanted to get off the stage. We were going to be rock stars, legends. _

Gonna fire up someday/My luck is wasted/I'm on the run somewhere/Feel my hand wrapped around/My luck is wasted/I'm on the run somewhere

_That thing that draws someone to someone else, the thing that Sookie and Bill had was causing everyone to look our way, to watch us, to hear us and it looked as if people we actually enjoying it. We had hooked them, we had hooked the crowd with one song. _

_The rest of the set passed quickly, almost too quick. When we were finished we unplugged and got off the stage as fast as we could. As we went into the back room I could still hear people clapping, some were even cheering. _

_"Oh my god!" Sookie exclaimed with a massive smile on her face placing her guitar down. "They loved us!" She hugged Bill and then hugged me for a moment longer than appropriate._

"_That went really well.__"__Bill beamed. _

"_A little too well.__"__Alcide chimed in suspiciously. _

_I looked over at him with a annoyed look on my face. __"__Shut up dude.__"__I shook my head and hugged Tara. _

_The giddiness lingered in the air and we started to make plans to celebrate our very successful first show but before we could confirm anything Andy burst through the door. "You guys were amazing! People started drinking more, ordering more food. You guys need to go back on." _

_"You said five songs and you got five songs." Sookie said curtly. "You aren't even paying us." She pointed out. _

_He sighed rubbing his head. "I'll pay you fifty bucks to play five more songs." _

_We all looked at each other deciding if this is what we wanted to do. We had five more songs but we weren't as rehearsed, finally Bill spoke up. "Fifty bucks a song. You want us to play five more that'll be two hundred and fifty bucks." _

_I looked over at Sookie with wide eyes and she looked back at me with an impressed expression. _

_Andy looked baffled. "Absolutely not, that's outrageous. Your high school students and your band isn't even famous!" _

_"But your customers love us and their love for us is making you money. It's only fair we get a sizeable cut." Bill reasoned smoothly. He had confidence and the adrenaline of performing running through him. _

_"No." Andy said flatly. _

_"Fine," Bill shrugged. __"__It__'__ll be a real bummer though for your customers to find out that you didn__'__t want to entertain them over something so silly as money.__"__His tone implied that it was no problem to us either way but he was rather upset that he was going to have to bad mouth Andy . __"__I mean is it really worth the 250 bucks when you__'__re sure to make ten times that during our set?__"__He reasoned. _

_Andy sighed. "Fine, 250, whatever. Get out there!" _

_Sookie grabbed her guitar and giggled. "Very suave Mr. Compton." _

_"Thanks." Bill looked at all off us. __"__'In the Meantime__'__, __'__Instant Pleasure__'__, __'__Ship of Fools__'__, __'__Harder to Breathe__'__ and __'__I Believe__'__. Is that a good set list?" He asked all of us. _

_We all nodded. _

_"Everyone remember it?" He asked. _

_We all nodded again. _

_"Good. Let's do this." And we headed back out on stage. The next five songs went as easily as the first and Bill even got the chance to play the piano during __'__Ship of Fools__'__ and __'__I Believe__'__. _

_We finished, took a bow and began tearing down. Lorena immediately started hovering around Bill, staking her claim, making sure that every girl in that bar knew Bill belonged to her. I pretended to be interested in the girls that slipped me their phone numbers as my parents tried to wade through them to congratulate me. Alcide told a few girls about an after party at Sookie's house, Tara was talking to her mother and Sookie was ignoring all the men that were clearly interested in her as she excitedl__y talk__ed__ to her Gran about the set. _

_We started to __haul__ all our equipment to the car when we were stopped by an older looking gentleman. "Tara and the Giants?" He called out which caused us all to stop and look at him. _

_"Who's asking?" Bill questioned with suspicion. _

_"My name is Damon Barnes and I'm the owner of Sneaky Dees in Shreveport." He smiled cockily. _

_We all new what Sneaky Dees was. It was one of the best rock clubs in Renard Parish and it was renowned for letting people in underage which was one of the reason__s__ it was so popular. "And?" Bill said again trying to appear aloof. _

_"I really loved your sound and would love to know if you could play the club next weekend. We had a last minute cancellation." My heart skipped a beat and excitement coursed through me as Sookie grabbed my hand, squeezing tightly. "You guys are all twenty one right?" He inquired. _

_"Of course we are." Bill answered smoothly, "let's talk numbers shall we?" That was the day insecure, high strung Bill Compton died and the suave, confident rock god Bill Compton was born._

* * *

**So there it is, their first gig. What did you all think? **

**I really love this chapter actually. **

**I hope you enjoyed and please review if you can. I love them all and it****'****s truly appreciated.**


	10. Flip, Sip or Strip

**A/N: Hey everyone, I have another chapter for y'all. This could possibly be the last time I post for the rest of the year. I have some time off coming up so I'm hoping to fit more writing in then. **

**A big thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, doubtlessshipper, Nicolle1977, ashmo2000, ciasteczko, MagpieTales, Shantigal, Perfecta999, MsNorthman, ljhjelm49, LostInSpace33, jilllapet, MissRon, 34ken and the two guests. I really appreciate all your kind words and comments. **

**A big thank you to outinritefield for editing this for me. **

**So the last time we were in the present day the group a rough time getting back into the swing of things musically. They discovered that Jesus was coming to the island for his birthday and they were going to throw him a party. **

**The song they sing in this one is called 'Budapest' by George Ezra. There is a link on my profile. **

**I hope you all like it! Happy reading!**

* * *

On the third day after the disastrous first attempt to get back into the studio we all agreed it was time to go back in and try again. We settled in and tuned our instruments, trying to get comfortable and shake off the nerves. We were all annoyed the process was so difficult. It had never been difficult. Ever.

"I think I figured out what are problem is." I said resting my hands on the neck of my guitar.

"What's that?" Alcide asked sitting down on his amp.

"It's the way we were setting ourselves up. You know, the singer in the front and the band behind." I fluttered my hand from the front of the studio towards the back. "It worked with Bill because Bill led and didn't give a shit what we were doing. He expected us to follow him but we can't do that together. We thrive on each other, looking at each other, following each other's leads. That's why writing and playing on the plane was so successful. So I think until we get used to the new us, we should face each other."

Everyone looked at one another and shrugged. "It's worth a shot." Tara concluded as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

We spent about twenty minutes reorganizing the studio until we were more or less in a circle.

"Now what?" Eric asked.

"Is there a warm up song you might feel comfortable singing?" LaFayette directed his attention towards Eric. "Maybe one you've always wanted to sing but never got the chance?" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "No offence but I think the biggest problem we are having is how to sing the vocals. You want to be Bill but you're not." LaFayette was treading lightly, he wanted to express his option but he wasn't sure if it was his place.

"Watch it." Alcide directed towards LaFayette assuring him that it wasn't.

Eric waved Alcide off. "No, he's right."

"I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I've heard you sing and you're better than Bill." He shrugged. "At least I think so."

Eric took a deep breath as he bit his lip nervously. "Do you know 'Budapest'?" Eric asked LaFayette.

"Sure do." LaFayette smiled and began tuning his guitar.

Eric looked at the rest of us. "Is everyone okay with that song?"

I put down my electric and picked up an archtop guitar and tuned it quickly. "We all ready?" I asked once it finally sounded the way I wanted and everyone nodded.

"Sing it like you, not like him." Tara said firmly in our new frontman's direction.

Eric nodded at her as I began plucking the strings, giving Eric an encouraging wink while Alcide and Tara followed right behind me on bass and drums respectfully. Eric stepped up to the microphone nervously, tugging at the hem of his Van Halen t-shirt as his lips pressed against the head of the mic like they always did when he sang.

_My house in Budapest/My, my hidden treasure chest/Golden grand piano/My beautiful Castillo_

_You/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd leave it all_

_My acres of a land/That I've achieved/It may be hard for you to/Stop and believe_

_But for you/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd leave it all/Oh, for you/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd leave it all_

Eric's voice made the song sound so different in a way I didn't expect. He gave it flourishes that Bill never thought to, his voice had more control and more passion than Bill's ever did; it made sense that he could considering he wrote the song. When we looked it over, all those years ago, there was almost nothing to change and 'Budapest' was laid down exactly like it was written. Bill took lead vocals when we originally recorded it and Eric had never sung the song all the way through, at least not in front of us, he refused to. He told us that it was too painful to do at the time, it was just after he had broken up with Kate.

_And give me one good reason/Why I should never make a change/Baby if you hold me/Then all of this will go away_

_My many artifacts/__The list goes on__/If you just say the words/I'll, I'll up and run_

_Oh, to you/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd leave it all_

_Oh, for you/__Ooh, oh__/Ooh, I'd leave it all_

I let myself get lost in his voice as my fingers found the familiar notes. Things felt normal, the despair and loneliness that had been weighing me down for months felt lighter in that moment. It felt good to feel normal, to have the one thing that came easy finally be easy.

_And give me one good reason/Why I should never make a change/Baby if you hold me/Then all of this will go away_

_Give me one good reason/Why I should never make a change/Baby if you hold me/Then all of this will go away_

_My friends and family/They don't understand/They fear they'll lose so much/If you take my hand_

_But, for you/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd lose it all_

_Oh, for you/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd lose it all_

By this time any anxiety that had been left over from our previous session was gone. LaFayette was starting to relax and fall into proper rhythm with us, Alcide and Tara were having fun like always and Eric had removed the microphone from the stand, gripping the pole as he bounced around to the melody.

_And give me one good reason/Why I should never make a change/Baby if you hold me/Then all of this will go away_

_Give me one good reason/Why I should never make a change/Baby if you hold me/Then all of this will go away_

_My house in Budapest/My, my hidden treasure chest/Golden grand piano/My beautiful Castillo_

_You/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd leave it all_

_Oh, for you/Ooh, you/Ooh, I'd leave it all_

Eric stepped away from the microphone with a smile on his face as the song ended. "That was pretty good." He admitted.

We all nodded in agreement. "So do you want to try 'All These Things That I've Done'?" Tara asked.

"Or "Blood Hands'?" Alcide suggested looking at me.

In the end we wound up working on both until they were almost perfected. Eric took the leads on both and we all supported. I just wasn't in the place to sing lead on 'Blood Hands', the angry song I had written about Bill. It was still too difficult for me.

After a couple of hours LaFayette's phone started buzzing and he took it out of his pocket to answer it. "Hey babe." He sang into the device as he walked out of the studio and into the boardroom.

"Today was a good day." Eric said as he came over to me, took my guitar and placed it on its stand.

I nodded. "It was nice to feel normal again." I admitted as I ran my hands through my hair. "It was great to hear you sing 'Budapest'." I smiled at him. "You sang it beautifully."

He nodded and sighed. "The song means a lot to me."

He had written it for Kate. I always thought it was funny how she went from a pin up on his wall to the girl I thought he was going to marry. She was the only girl Eric had dated I actually liked. To this day I still don't know why it didn't work out and Eric had never explained it.

After the great studio session we practiced everyday until Jesus came. We went through the catalogue to let LaFayette get used to us and let us get used to LaFayette.

They were a great five days.

We were in the studio by ten and out for dinner by six. Tara and Eric cooked while the rest of us took shifts on dish duty. Then we spent our nights around the fire on the deck telling LaFayette every story we could think of. Every embarrassing moment, every one of our accomplishments, scandalous celebrities stories we had become privy to over time. There was no fighting, no bickering, just music, food, drinks and laughter. It reminded me of our time just after our first tour had ended when everything was exciting and new.

The day Jesus arrived we did nothing but decorate for the party. Our definition of decorating was making sure the bar was fully stocked, that there was enough greasy food to absorb alcohol so we didn't get sick and creating a very carefully chosen playlist which we spent most of the day working on.

I was lying on the couch reading a copy of _Jane Eyre,_ which I had found in my room, when I heard the sound of suitcase wheels on tile. "Hello?" Called an enthusiastic voice with a slight Mexican accent.

I sat up and smiled at the brown haired man standing in silhouette from the setting sun. "Hey!" I shouted jumping up on the couch and stepping onto the cold tile. I had chosen very simple clothing for the evening, dark denim high waisted shorts, a black bikini top with a red rose pattern and a light grey drape sweater. "You must be Jesus, I'm - "

"Sookie Stackhouse." He said in disbelief. His skin was an even olive tone, he had shockingly blue eyes, a strong stocky build and stood about 5'9. He was wearing khaki shorts and a blue linen button up.

"Yep that's me." I said with grin. "You a fan?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that." LaFayette spoke out as he stepped out of the archway that led to the bedrooms. He was wearing plaid blue shorts and a black tank top. "Jesus is a massive fan of Perihelion." He revealed, giving his husband a kiss.

"Oh!" I exclaimed with a delighted smile on my face. "That's awesome, it's always nice to meet a fan. Do you have anything you want me to sign?" I asked.

"Yes!" He bent down and opened his suitcase and pulled out all five of our albums. "I love all your albums but _Aphelion_ has to be my favourite. That record was my jam in college, I lost my virginity to that shit." He laughed excitedly. "I was a late bloomer so I didn't lose my virginity till I was twenty-one." He was beyond thrilled as he spread the albums out on the dining room table and handed me a permanent marker.

My eyes widened at his comment and I nodded slowly. "Well I'm really glad I could have been a part of that moment with you." I smiled sweetly. He was doing a thing a lot of people did when they met us. Fans like Jesus had spent ten years listening to our records, watching us change and grow, so he felt like he knew us, like he could tell us anything. This was common. The only downside was that they forgot _we_ had just met _them_.

Eric came strolling towards us with his hand out. "Hey man, what's up? I'm Eric." He had been in his room getting ready for the party and had decided on black jeans and white cotton shirt that cut low in the front exposing a majority of his tattoos.

Jesus' eyes lit up when he saw him. "Oh my god, you are even taller in real life!" He said giddily shaking Eric's hand. "And your chest…" His eyes wandered up and down Eric's body.

"What?" Eric laughed out, his voice laced with confusion.

"Jesus is a long time Perihelion fan." I explained to him.

'Long time fan' was a code we created long ago to identify a slightly crazed but ultimately harmless fan.

"Ooohhh." Eric said as he realized what I meant. "Cool, you want to get a selfie?" He offered.

"Yes!" Jesus grabbed him by the shoulder and starting snapping picture after picture.

"Your husband knows you're in the band now, right?" I asked LaFayette as I finished signing the last album sleeve.

"I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. Give him a day or two and he'll calm down." He slung his arm over my shoulder with a smile.

"He just has to realize how boring we are and the illusion will be shattered." I chuckled.

"Sookie, I have known you for about a month and I have to let you know that you guys are a lot of things but boring you ain't." He winked.

We both turned when we heard laughing and watched Alcide, Debbie, Tara and Eggs enter the room. I watched as Alcide, who was wearing a white tank top and red board shorts, took in the album sleeves and the selfie frenzy that was happening around Eric before he directed his attention back to me. "Long time fan?" He questioned with raised eyebrows.

I grinned and brought one index finger up to the tip of my nose and pointed the other one at him to indicate that he was correct.

"Yes!" He beamed triumphantly as he walked up to Jesus and Eric to get in on some selfies which sent Jesus into another fit of excitement.

Everyone introduced themselves, more photos and autographs were given and twenty-five minutes after Jesus arrived we all had a drink in our hand.

**Drink 1 - 8:45pm **

"Jesus! Jesus!" Alcide shouted. "Bro, since it's your birthday you need to sing karaoke!" He slapped him on the back as he sat down beside him.

"What, why?" Jesus questioned confused.

"Cause those are the rules." Eggs shrugged.

"On your birthday you have to sing." Tara continued. "That's just the way that it's always been."

"I'm not a very good singer." Jesus admitted.

"He's not lying." LaFayette confirmed mixing his second drink.

"Hey!" Jesus cried with hurt in his voice.

"I'm just telling it like it is, baby." LaFayette winked at his husband while he took a sip of his drink to evaluate the taste, with a shake of his head he placed the cup down and added more rum.

Jesus' unamused stare lingered on LaFayette for a moment longer before his attention went back to Alcide. "Can I at least get a little more drunk first?" Jesus asked.

Alcide considered Jesus' proposal and with a firm nod said, "Yes." He confirmed before looking over at Luna. "How are we choosing the game tonight?" He inquired.

"Matches." Luna said keeping most of her attention on Eric and the conversation they were having.

I looked at my half finished beer and decided to join them.

**Drink 2 &amp; 3 - 9:15pm**

"Shots!" Debbie yelled placing as many shot glasses as her little hands could carry on the kitchen counter.

"I hate shots." I moaned as Debbie began pouring random alcohols into each glass.

"No you don't, or are you forgetting the Bon Temps tour of '08 when you crowned yourself, and I quote, 'shot queen champion of the world'." Eric reminded me.

I stared up at him through my eyelashes with a smirk on my face. "I was young and stupid then."

"How is that any different from now?" He grinned at me.

I took the shot glass that was placed in front of me and downed the liquid inside of it without breaking eye contact with Eric. I winced as I realized what I had just drank. "Ugh, yuck." I spat as the licorice tasting liquor burned all the way down. "That's like liquid fire." I took a shot of tequila just to get the taste of sambuca out of my mouth.

Eric laughed. "You're such a lightweight Sook." He rolled his eyes, took his two shots and made the same noise of disgust I did. "Ugh, both of those were gin." He snatched Alcide's beer out of his hand and finished it. "Gin is disgusting."

"Unless it's mixed with tonic." Eggs chimed in.

"Yeah it's like two ugly people having a really beautiful baby." Debbie added.

I laughed and slapped Eric on the back. "Jeez Eric, you're such a lightweight." I grabbed a beer of my own and headed over to the living room.

**Drink 4 - 9:19pm**

"Okay!" Luna said as we all gathered in the living room, taking a seat. "Everyone gather around."

"Are you sure you're all cool with us drinking in front of you?" I asked her as I put my beer on the coffee table.

Luna laughed as she broke a match in half and then counted out enough matches so there was enough for all of us. "Of course I am. I can't wait to watch you guys get drunk." She grouped all the matches together and wrapped her hand around them so there was no way to tell which one was the short one. "I'm perfectly content with my virgin Pina Colada." She said gleefully as she took a sip.

"What are we doing?" Jesus asked with excitement taking his place beside LaFayette.

"We are all going to pull a match and the one with the shortest gets to pick which drinking game we play." Eggs explained as he leaned back on the sofa putting his arm around Tara.

"What if we don't know a drinking game?" LaFayette asked.

"Then you appoint someone to choose one for you." Sam informed him.

"Except Alcide, do not pick Alcide!" Eric warned not only LaFayette but Jesus as well.

"Well, fuck you too!" Alcide said throwing a playing card at Eric.

He deflected the attack. "Dude you pick the same game every damn time, it makes us all super drunk and I always lose a piece of clothing when we play." Eric explained leaning back on the couch next to me.

"I'm taking your clothes Eric, I like taking trophies from my victories." Alcide said in a menacing tone.

"You guys are funny." I laughed at their transaction as I took a long pull from my beer.

"Alright," Luna said inching forward and sticking her hand out. "Stop talking and choose a damn match!" She demanded and we all leaned forward to grab one.

Alcide drew the shortest match. "Booyah! Holy shit, yes! We are playing Flip, Sip or Strip!" He exclaimed as he took a victory lap around the sunken living room.

Eric sighed as he deflated into the couch.

"Flip, Sip or Strip?" Jesus asked confused.

"We called it Drunk and Naked." I informed him as I stood along with Debbie and Tara to get a bottle of vodka, tequila and rum along with as many bottles of beer we could carry.

When I sat down Alcide was explaining the game.

**Drinks 5 through 8 - 9:35pm **

"So I flip a coin, call heads or tails in the air and if I get it right-" LaFayette inquired.

"You don't have to do anything." Debbie told him.

"And if we get it wrong?" Jesus asked.

"You either have to take a shot, finish your drink or take off an article of clothing." Alcide said proudly while cracking open a beer.

"Hence why we call it Drunk and Naked." I poured myself a shot of tequila in anticipation of my turn.

"You also can't pick the same thing two times in a row, so if you don't call it right and you drank last time, this time you have to strip." Tara said with a chuckle. "I hope you are comfortable being nearly nude."

Jesus looked mildly uncomfortable as he sank down beside LaFayette.

"If you don't want to play just say so. We are so used to seeing each other naked it really doesn't phase us but we all get it if you are weirded out by it." Eric told them.

"Don't feel pressured. We just want you to have a good time." I smiled at him. "It's not your fault Alcide loves this stupid game."

"Whatever, none of you are going to look back on this and be upset you showed off and embraced how hot we all are. This is all gonna get saggy and shit," he motioned to his body, "so lets enjoy it now." He was smiling widely.

Jesus perked up. "He's right. I want to play."

"It gets easier the drunker you get." Debbie admitted as she picked up the quarter and passed it to Alcide. "You first my dear husband."

Alcide threw the coin into the air. "Heads!" He shouted as it came down as quickly as it went up.

It landed on the table with a clink. "Tails." I read out with a chuckle.

Alcide stood up and grabbed the collar of his white tank top and literally ripped it in half. "It's on!"

This garnered giggles and laughs from everyone and a deep sighed, "Good lord," from Eric.

"Ms. Thornton, it's all you baby." He winked and passed her the quarter.

**Drink 10** \- **11:15pm **

We had gone through ten rounds and Debbie had guessed every toss correctly and was still fully clothed but pretty drunk because she never stopped drinking. Alcide had, along with his shirt, lost his pants and had taken two shots. Lafayette was down his shirt, shoes and pants and only drank twice but was drinking Pina Coladas on the side so he was pretty drunk, Jesus was in the same boat minus the Pina Coladas. Sam refused to play in typical Sam fashion and Luna had a bad case of the giggles also opting not to play cause of the baby. Eggs only had to drink once and lost his shirt. Eric was in nothing but boxer briefs losing his shirt, shoes, socks and pants and he had to drink four times, I was down to my bikini top and panties and had drank four times, while Tara was topless and had drank three times.

"This game didn't get me as drunk as I thought it would." Jesus admitted.

"Speak for yourself." I piped up.

"Oh, we aren't done." Alcide informed Jesus.

"Yes we are." Eric said standing, his skin straining over his muscles, veins protruding from his lower abdomen, his boxer briefs leaving nothing to the imagination. I couldn't help but bite my lower lip.

"Baby, I am drunk but I ain't blind." LaFayette chirped at his husband.

I looked over to Jesus who was openly ogling Eric, I couldn't really blame him.

I laughed and shook my head at Jesus' obsession and Lafayette's jealousy as "Hypnotize" by The Notorious B.I.G came on causing Eric and Alcide to look at each other with looks of excitement. "Oh yes!" Eric exclaimed jumping up on the coffee table and began dancing in a way I had never seen him move before. He had incredible control as he rolled his body expertly to the music, his hips moving in time with the beat. We had all taken dance classes at one time or another because of our job. We needed to know how to move to music, how to dance for concerts and music videos but his expertise was on another level. He began moving against Alcide when he joined Eric up on the table.

"Where'd you learn to dance, Northman?" I shouted at him over the music which seemed to have gotten louder as I opened another beer.

He grinned and shrugged, "Awe baby, I've got moves you've never seen." He winked quoting a line from _My Best Friends Wedding_, my favourite movie.

"Easy there Julia." I teased.

"No seriously man, how'd you learn to dance like that?" Alcide inquired over his shoulder, Alcide's hands on Eric's hips.

Eric shrugged nonchalantly. "Katy loved _Magic Mike_ so I took a few classes."

"I didn't know that." I said with a surprised smile as I stood and approached him.

"You don't know everything about me Stackhouse." He took the beer from my hand and downed half of it in one gulp while grabbing my other hand and pulling me up onto the table.

I shrugged and cocked an eyebrow. "I know enough."

He turned me so my back was to his front, his one hand on my stomach pushing my butt into his groin and other hand running up and down my arm which had found their way around his neck. "Someone's drunk." I teased as I tried to sync my movements with his.

"I'm alright." He whispered back, his breath tickling my neck causing goosebumps to form.

"You are gonna break that table." Eggs chided.

"They look like they are going to do a lot more to that table than just break it." Tara chuckled. She had put her shirt back on.

"Easy Northman." I whispered as he rolled his body against mine in rhythm with the music, singing along, his lips by my ear. He had an erection and I bit my lip to keep from giggling. I couldn't blame him for having one, we were both drunk, half naked and rubbing up against each other. It wasn't the first time I had his length pushed up against me but it had been quite awhile.

LaFayette broke me out of the little bubble I was in with Eric. "I'm so fucking drunk and I need to go to bed." Lafayette swayed as he stood.

Jesus laughing at him. "This has been the best night ever." Jesus stood to help his husband.

"No, no!" Alcide exclaimed at Jesus. "You need to sing!"

"Al, he needs to take care of LaLa, look at him he can barely stand." Eric reprimanded as he jumped off the table and put his pants back on.

"But it's the rules!" Alcide whined.

"Nope, no torturing Jesus! Biggie puts me in a baby making mood. Come on! Pants off Herveaux!" Debbie declared as she slapped his butt walking towards their room.

Tara and Eggs were too deep into there own conversation to notice anyone else and Luna and Sam had slinked away with no comment at all.

"Outside Legs," Eric motioned to the back door with his head, two champagne glasses in one hand and two bottles of champagne in the other. I jumped off the table and grabbed my shorts putting them on quickly.

We headed to the edge of the deck so we could sit with our feet in the sand as we proceeded to talk about anything we could think of.

**Drink 11 - 11:39pm**

"I go to movies because I don't want to think." He told me.

"But it's a form of art. It should make you think from time to time." I sat with my legs stretched out over him so he faced the ocean and I faced the forest.

"Okay but the totem wavered so he has to be awake and not in limbo." Eric said.

"I think it's open to interpretation, whatever you decide _is_ correct. Nolan likes to fuck with people." I shrugged.

"I don't want open interpretation. I want to know." He grumbled.

"Well if you ever see Nolan, ask him." I paused to take a sip. "It's been five years since the movie came out I think you should let it go."

"Fuck that movie man, fuck _Inception_." He was silent for a moment or two. "But if I had to fuck a guy Leonardo DiCaprio would definitely be that guy."

"He's fat and disgusting and has a filthy man bun. You could do better." It was no secret that I hated Leonardo DiCaprio. It wasn't that I thought he was a bad actor, I just disliked him.

"Who? Who is better than Leo?" He challenged me.

"Tom Hanks." I said after a lot of thought.

"Oh yeah that's true." He nodded in agreement and took a drink.

I laughed out loud at his quick acceptance.

**Drink 11 and a half - 12:01am **

"But you passed through your mothers vagina and that includes your penis so technically you lost your virginity to you mom." I reasoned.

"What you're saying is madness!" He said grasping either side of my head and squeezing lightly. "What is wrong with your brain?"

"It makes sense."

"No it doesn't, sex requires penetration and I didn't penetrate my mother when I was born." He made a disgusted sound as he rubbed his face. "That's a sentence I'd never thought I'd say." He sighed. "What about babies born by c-section?"

I shrugged. "Those babies are still virgins."

"You're a lunatic! This is the ramblings of a lunatic!" He shook his head and began drinking right out of the bottle.

I giggled at his disbelief. "I'm just saying its a solid theory, it's why all men die in horror movies, you can't be virgins cause you never were and its your mothers fault. That's why mothers are so protective of their sons. They are like jealous ex-girlfriends."

"I hate you." He mumbled shaking his head as he took a drink.

This caused my giggles to turn into a full blown belly laugh.

**Drink 12 - 12:12am**

"I've just been feeling so mediocre lately." He shook his head as he looked out towards the ocean watching the waves roll against the beach.

"Eric I guarantee you, there is nothing mediocre about you. If anyone is mediocre it's me."

"What are you talking about you are one of the greatest guitar players alive, maybe ever. I'm just sorta good at lots of things. I don't focus my attention on one thing enough to be great at it. I'm like the James Franco of music." He drank all the champagne out of the bottle and threw it onto the beach.

"Actually James Franco makes his own music so James Franco is the James Franco of music." I informed him with a smirk.

"Fuck that guy." Eric laughed as he leaned back onto the deck.

"Have you ever met him?" I asked him. He shook his head. "He is the worst, so pompous and pretentious. You are so much better than him, don't worry." I sighed. "But yeah, so what? I can play the guitar real well, who gives a shit? Look at me now; I'm just a single, borderline alcoholic weirdo who's fiancé left her for a myriad of cliché reasons and our band is on the brink of collapse."

"No it's not." He pointed at me seriously. "Bill wasn't the glue of this band, he made us think he was but he's not. You made this band great, you and Tara pulled Alcide and me out Bill's shadow and without that we'd have nothing. You made us all better. He was lucky to have you and he'll realize his mistake and come back to us and when he does we can decide what to do with him. He thinks he's the king but he won't be able to create music the way he did when he was with us."

"That's what you think he's doing? Creating music?" I laughed drinking too much causing the champagne to dribble out the corners of my mouth.

He nodded. "Yeah!" His brow furrowed. "What do you think he's doing?"

"Willa Burrell." I said begrudgingly. "Did you know if he was cheating on me when we were together?" I asked him not wanting to know the answer, not really.

He sighed and rubbed his face. "I had my suspicions but I never knew for sure. He never told me and I never caught him."

I nodded slowly, not saying anything, looking at the moon reflecting off the water, finishing my drink.

**Drink 13 - 12:26am **

"Why Bill?" He asked sipping his final glass of champagne.

"Why Bill what?" I asked giving him heavy side eye wondering where this conversation might be going.

"Why did you decide to date him?" He asked looking intently at my face.

I shrugged messing my hair up more than I already had. "He liked me for some reason. Opposites attract and all that." I brought the glass up to my lips and paused, "you have to admit, when it was good, we made a pretty good couple." I took a drink.

He nodded. "That you did, that you did." He was silent for a moment as he debated if he wanted to say what he wanted to say. "Why not me?" He looked away from me out to the ocean.

"We've talked about this, you know why we didn't get together." I eyed him.

He sighed in frustration. "I was eighteen Sookie and Jessica had perfect-"

"Tits," I cut him off. "I know but I was seventeen and seeing the two of you together made me think differently of you and at the time I couldn't get over it. I thought you were better than that and I thought you liked me, you made me believe that you liked me." I said with an air of annoyance and hurt.

"I _did_ like you."

"It was a little hard to believe when you were balls deep in Hamby." I spat, taking a deep breath in trying to calm myself. "By the time I was over it Bill and I were together and I was happy." I finished my drink. "Why didn't you just ask me?" I questioned looking at him as he looked at his toes as they dug into the sand. "Before I found out about Jessica?"

"I was a teenager and I was nervous. I was worried if you said no or it didn't work out our friendship would suffer and the band would suffer, so I stayed quiet and hoped that it would work itself out." He shrugged looking over at me, his eyes sweeping over my face. "Why did you never ask me out?"

"Pretty much all the reasons you just said." I sighed. "And I was worried it was a joke to you. So many guys that looked like you would ask me out just to laugh at me."

"It hurts that you thought I was like all the assholes we went to high school with." He ran his hand through his hair.

"You kinda turned out to be." I reminded him.

He sighed and decided to ignore my statement. "So if I just bit the bullet all those years ago and just asked you then-"

"Things could have been very different now." I admitted.

My crush on Eric when we were young was intense but innocent. It was a high school crush that had been all but eclipsed by Bill. It had been 12 years ago and the feelings were all but gone but like any crush the thought of what could have been still tugged at my heart from time to time.

"If I had asked what would you have said?" He was still looking at his toes as he buried them into the sand.

I smiled as my heart started to race. "I would have said yes, duh." I answered truthfully. "If you did it before I knew you were with Jessica. You knew she was queen bee and sent Sarah and Violet after me constantly but still you were with her. She also put me down any chance she could. It hurt me that you were with someone who went out of their way to make my life miserable."

"She was a bad choice. It's a choice I regret and I when I started my-" He took a deep breath in and exhaled. "Whatever I had with Jessica, I didn't know she treated you the way she did and when I found out I tried to end it but, like I said, I was eighteen and I thought exclusively with my dick around her."

"It was a long time ago and what's done is done." I said filling my mouth with the bubbling liquid.

"I'm sorry that I did that and - and," he trailed off and stared at me, his eyes focusing on all my features before landing on my lips. Before I knew it he was leaning in to kiss me quickly but deeply. He pulled back to gage my reaction, his lips red and swollen, his hair pulled forward, his eyes looking over my face as I decided what to do.

I was drunk, very, very drunk but I knew if I did this there could be huge repercussions. I was in a relationship with Bill and when it ended it nearly tore the band apart. Did I want to do that again? Did he? Did we want to risk that?

The answer was yes. I knew Eric and I could move on after one night and it might do us both some good. Eric and I were both adults and there was a part of me what was always curious what it would be like to be with him, what it would be like if things _were_ different.

I smiled and leaned forward kissing him again as I maneuvered myself to straddle him, my glass falling onto the beach as my remaining champagne was absorbed by the sand.

His hands moved up my back until they hit the hem of my bikini top and moved under the material massaging my skin. His mouth opened to accept my tongue which had been running along his bottom lip. He stood wrapping my legs around his waist as he found his footing and moved us across the deck. Breaking our kiss periodically so he could see where he was going.

He finally got us into the house and made his way towards my room. I giggled into his neck as he fumbled with my bedroom door. I began placing kisses on his throat moving towards his ear before taking his lobe between my teeth and tugging lightly. He moaned in response as he placed me down on the bed and held himself above me. "You sure you want to do this?" He asked before kissing me again.

I reached behind my back and removed my bikini top, tossing it aside as I smiled at him.

He stared at my bare chest with lust before looking up at me, "I'm gonna take that as a yes." He moved over me and began kissing my breasts as I tangled my fingers in his soft hair.

I moaned as he tongued my nipple, his strong hand gently kneading my other breast. The sensations causing goosebumps to rise on my skin and uncontrollable whimpers to escape my lips. He was peppering kisses down my torso as he began undoing my shorts, finally pulling them off.

I pulled for him to come back up to me so I could kiss him again. Our lips met and his fingers dug into the flesh at my sides as he held my hips, grinding his hard length against me. I broke our kiss and pushed him away. "Take off your pants." I said hungrily.

He stood with a smile on his face and began to take off his pants but not before he shoved his hands into the pockets. "Hey!" He said with delight and pulled out a small square metallic package. "There's a condom in here." He smiled like a dope.

"Always prepared." I said breathlessly.

"I was a boy scout." He cocked an eyebrow.

"We don't need it though, I'm on the pill." I paused and looked at him as I gripped the sides of my panties and began to pull them down. "Unless you want to use it."

He stared at me with a blank expression as I removed my underwear completely and cast them aside.

"Raw dog it is." He said tossing the condom aside, removing his pants and boxer briefs.

I made a noise of disgust. "Please, never say raw dog again. That is the worst term. You need to stop listening to Dane Cook, he's not-"

I was cut off by a kiss. "Stop talking." He reprimanded as he spread my legs with his own and moved in between them.

He positioned the head of his cock at my opening and pushed inside causing me to cry out. I hadn't had sex in awhile. The sex had stopped months before Bill had ended things with me.

Sex with Eric was different than I expected because I could only compare it to Bill. Eric's arms, chest, torso had more muscle mass than Bill's and his body was longer. He made me feel small which was hard to do, even though I was thin I was never short and to feel dwarfed by him made me feel feminine, something I rarely felt. I was a tomboy through and through.

His dick was bigger too, though not by much but proportionate to his size. The biggest difference between Eric and Bill was strength and technique. Bill wasn't weak, he was a strong guy but no matter how much he worked out he would always be tall and lean, that was just his body type. It also took us some time to figure out what the other one liked when we started having sex. I wasn't sure if it was because I was new to it or because he lacked confidence at first but it took us a solid six months before sex became truly enjoyable for either of us.

With Eric came his size and strength and his ability to handle me, to move me, to angle me any way he liked. He knew, innately, what to do with me, how to hit 'the spot' with no guidance other than the moans that slipped from my lips. I chalked it up to many partners and lots of experience.

"Sook, you gotta be quiet." He said to me, his arm slipping underneath me so my back was now arched.

I put both of my hands over my mouth as he thrust into me, my head pushing up against the pillows as low guttural groans escaped his lips. His other hand traced over my body, skimming lightly over my ribs, chest and neck. He moved my hands away from my mouth and cupped my face pulling me up to kiss him. In the process he ended up changing our position so I was straddling him and he was sitting on the bed.

My arms wrapped around his neck as our kiss deepened, our tongues meeting and his hands moved down to my butt to support me as he continued to pump in an out of me.

The change in our position caused my lower abdomen to tighten and the first signs of my orgasm was coming. "Eric." I moaned out.

"Sook." Eric moaned out into my shoulder.

The heat and tingles were spreading through my body and my toes were starting to curl. My nails were digging into his back as my breathing became shallow. "Eric." I managed to breath out just before I came. My body tensing and releasing as my brain shut down for the first time in a long time and all I could think about was my pleasure.

I screamed out as my orgasm consumed me and I felt Eric's hand cover my mouth to muffle my cries. They would echo far and wide in our palace made of marble.

He continued to thrust in an out even after I had gone limp, trying to come back to reality, my body draped over his. He came a minute after I did, he bit into my shoulder to silence himself as his arms wrapped around my waist, squeezing me tightly.

I collapsed beside him mustering up enough energy to look over at him with a grin and say in utter satisfaction, "holy fuck."

Then I passed out.

* * *

**So this chapter went out with a bang, huh? What did you all think? I always do the extremely slow burn stories so I've sort of put them together a little bit earlier, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet. **

**Also, Kate and Katy are two different people. Eric has a thing for Catherine's. **

**I hoped you all enjoyed it. **

**Reviews are life, please review. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. It's Not What It Looks Like

**A/N: Thank you to outinritefield1, ashmo2000, ciasteczko, Tynee23, LostInSpace33, scorpiolady68, MsNorthman, Perfecta999, ericplenty, doutlessshiper, jilllapet, 34ken, Nicolle1977 and the guest who reviewed. **

**Thanks to outinritefield1 for editing this chapter for me. You're the best!**

**This is Eric's POV.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Following the success of our first show the band became everyone's first priority. We played every bar, pub and club that would have us and was within a two hour drive from Bon Temps; we couldn't go too far considering we had school everyday. After Alcide and I graduated in June, Sookie and Tara began studying for their GED and by the end of July we were all free. _

_By that time the band was such a local success we didn't have to whore ourselves around, begging venue owners to let us play; they were chasing after us. This was thanks to Bill who was a very good business man as it turned out, he just needed a little confidence. He knew how to negotiate, how to make someone believe they wanted us even if they didn't and he made sure we were paid after every gig. _

_This allowed us to save up enough money to buy a van big enough to fit all our gear and travel together. Up till that point we had been getting to gigs in two or three separate cars. Bill always insisted on driving until he was too tired and then Alcide usually took over. Tara was in the passenger seat, asleep, never a fan of traveling and Sookie and I found our place in the back. That summer we slept in the van more then we did in our own beds, me propped up against the metal side and Sookie leaning against me since there were no seats. _

_This was when Sookie, Bill and I all took up smoking. We all obtained fake ID's and began going to parties nearly after every show. When you were drinking, smoking just found it's way into the mix naturally, they were like peanut butter and jelly. The truth was I liked smoking, I liked how it made me feel, how it made me look, I liked it because it was something else I shared with Sookie. I didn't care if it was bad for me, I was eighteen and invincible, I was never going to die. _

_This was how the whole summer passed, playing, smoking, partying and sleeping in the van as we tried to make Tara and the Giants or Suicidal Canyon and the Thirteen or Hearts on Fire or whatever stupid name we decided to call ourselves that week a household name. _

_We had three days off before we played three massive shows in Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee and finally, Dallas, Texas. These shows were a big deal. These venues held upwards of five thousand people, the most we had ever played to at one time. These were the types of venues scouts hung around and famous musicians just casually popped up at. Our lives could be completely different by the end of these three days. _

_**August 15, 2003 - 6:52pm - Bon Temps**_

_I planned on spending our time off doing nothing. I was going to sleep, eat three proper meals a day and sneak cigarettes when I could but Sookie had other plans. _

_I hadn't been home more than fifteen minutes when the phone rang. "I've got it!" I shouted to make sure my mother did not pick up the phone. "Hello, you've reached the winter of our discontent." I answered knowing full well Sookie was on the other end. _

_She chuckled. "What are you up to tonight?" _

_"I was going to catch up on some much needed sleep. That van has fucked up my back." I wasn't lying, I was exhausted and my back was killing me. _

"_Okay, you could do that or we could go to the video store, rent movies and stuff our faces with junk food. You have a sweet basement which I fully intend to exploit." She sounded excited. _

_I should have said no. I needed rest, I needed to put space between me and my bandmates, I needed a hot shower and time to myself but Sookie was someone I just couldn't say no to. "I think I can do that." I smiled into the phone. _

_"I'll pick you up in twenty." She said before I was met with a dial tone. _

_Ten minutes later I was in Sookie's car racing towards the only video store in Bon Temps, cigarettes hanging out of both of our mouths. _

_The second we entered the small building Sookie was piling bags of chips and chocolate into a shopping basket. "What are you in the mood for?" She asked as she walked over to the unorganized assortment of films. _

_How did I tell her she was what I was in the mood for? My crush on Sookie wasn't going away. I didn't know what I expected, spending all my time with her was not a good way to make feelings dissipate. Everyday she proved herself to be funnier, more talented and more lovely than the day before. _

_"Action, I guess." I responded, not really caring what we chose. "How about _Gangs of New York_? I haven't seen it yet." _

"_No." She said moving on to the next shelf. "You know I hate Leonardo DiCaprio." _

"_I will never understand why you hate him." I said looking at the back of the bulky VHS box. _

"_He has douche face. He looks like a douche." She turned away from me and picked up _My Best Friends Wedding_. _

_"Nope, I can't watch that again." I said without even looking at her. _

_"Why?" She whined. "It's so good." _

_"Nope." I bent over and picked up a movie with Drew Barrymore on the cover. "How about _Never Been Kissed_?" I suggested. _

_"I don't really want to watch a movie about my life, thank you." She muttered before picking up _40 Days and 40 Nights_ to read the back. _

_"You've never kissed anyone?" I questioned, moving towards her slowly with a grin on my face. _

_She huffed putting the video back on the shelf. "I thought we've been over this Eric. You've seen the way guys treat me at school, they aren't interested so no, I've never kissed anyone." _

_"Not even a drunken kiss?" I pushed further. _

_She made a noise of disgust. "Drunken hook ups are so..." She paused to think of the right word. "Pedestrian." She finally concluded. _

_"Don't knock it till you try it." I laughed and turned when I heard the bell that indicated someone was entering the store. My heart dropped when Jessica, Violet and Sarah walked in. I hadn't seen Jessica in nearly two months, since school had ended but she had called me multiple times. I didn't want to end it in person because I knew she would make it impossible to do so. She was probably also pissed because there was no way she didn't know I hooked up with Sarah at the homecoming game. _

_Was I a man whore? _

_I dropped down to take cover between the shelves hoping they wouldn't see me and come over. _

_Sookie was looking down at me inquisitively. "What are you doing?" _

_"I think the movies at the bottom of the shelves don't get enough love. We are so tall we never look at them. How about this? Let's watch this?" I picked up the first movie I laid my hands on and showed it to her. _

_"_Schindler's List_?" She questioned with a cocked eyebrow. _

_I shrugged. "Yeah, it's Spielberg's finest." I held onto the shelf to keep from falling over and listened for their voices to see if they were getting closer to us. _

_"_Jurassic Park_ is Spielberg's finest." She argued continuing to look at whatever she was looking at. _

_"Eric?" I hear Jessica's nasally voice say. _

_I flinched knowing there was no way I could get out of this. So I put the movie back on the shelf and stood quickly turning to see three overly made up faces. "Hey Jess!" I said way to enthusiastically not even bothering to look over at Sookie who was no doubt confused and irritated by the girls presence. "Sarah, Violet." I nodded curtly before looking at each of them. _

_"Where have you been Eric?" Jessica asked tight lipped, she was trying to seem pleasant but she was pissed. _

_"I have been playing gigs with the band." I scratched my head awkwardly. "You know the band?" _

_"Tara and the Giants?" Jessica guessed. _

_"Suicidal Canyon and the Thirteen?" Sarah rolled her eyes. _

_"Hearts on Fire?" Violet said before she rifled __through her bag __to pick up her cell phone which was ringing. She pulled up the antenna and stepped away from our discussion. _

_I felt Sookie put her hand on my back and lean over into our conversation. "We are actually going by International Sex Station as of late." She gave a catty smile and went back to looking at movies but not before pinching the skin on my lower back. _

_"Ow!" I exclaimed rubbing my irritated flesh. I looked over at her to see her picking up _Death Becomes Her_. Sookie's jaw was clenched and her brows furrowed. _

_Fuck. _

_I looked over at the two inappropriately dressed girls. "Yeah, that band. What have you two been up to since graduation?" I said wanting this interaction to end more than anything. _

_"I am going to the Shreveport community college in September and until then I'm working at the new Piggly Wiggly." Jessica gloated. _

_He comment caused Sookie to snicker. _

_Jessica's focus drifted to Sookie and then back to me. "It seems like you've gone down hill since high school, hanging out with riff raff and what not." _

_I heard a slam and then Sookie appeared holding two cases in front of me."_Gangs of New York_ and _Can't Hardly Wait_, lets go." She threw the movies into the basket and ripped it from my hand before heading towards the register._

_I stared at Jessica and Sarah and sighed deeply. "So, I should probably go."_

_"When will I see you again?" Jessica asked. _

_"I could ask you the same thing." Sarah crossed her arms as her nostrils flared. _

"_Northman!" Sookie screamed at me as she paid for our Friday night. _

_I was thankful for her angry call. "Good to see you. Bye." I sped away from them towards the door. _

_We sat in silence on the ride to my house. I was waiting for her to say something, anything because I knew she would. _

_She finally spoke when we pulled into my driveway. "So what was that?" She questioned. _

_"What was what?" I said innocently, playing dumb, getting out of the car. _

_"Hamby certainly seemed to know you." She was pulling the bags out of the back seat of the car. _

_"Of course she knows me, she knows you too." _

_"No like she really knows you, like you hang out." We walked up the steps to my house. "Are you dating her or something?" _

_I looked down at her while she waited for my answer. I should've been honest and told her, yes, we were seeing each other and it was over now but that's not what I did. Technically, I never dated Jessica, we were just sleeping with each other so I told Sookie a twisted truth. "No, I'm not dating her." _

_She visibly relaxed. "Good cause she's the worst." She entered my home before me. _

_"She probably has a crush on me or something. Girls have a tendency to look at me with gaga eyes." I rolled my eyes. _

_"I don't look at you like that." She said as she made her way downstairs, taking them two at a time. _

_"That's probably why I like spending time with you." I grabbed one of the bags and flung myself down onto the couch. "You don't look at me like you are trying to figure out what I look like with my shirt off." _

_"I know what you look like with your shirt off." She dug through the bag looking for the Red Vines. _

_"Did you like what you saw?" I teased with a cocked eyebrow as I got up to put in _Can't Hardly Wait_ knowing she was going to want to watch that one first._

_She shrugged indifferently. "Not really. I'm not into muscly guys." She looked away from me and bit into the candy. I could have sworn I saw her cheeks flush red but it was too dark to be sure. _

_"Hmmm-hmmm, of course you __aren't__." I laughed skeptically before I reached into the bag on her lap and pulled out a vine for myself. _

_We watched the movie while joking around, talking about the upcoming gigs and fantasizing about what we'd do when we were finally famous. This talk ended when we put on _Gangs of New York_. It turns out turn of the century blood feuds were something that interested me; Sookie didn't share this interest. _

_"This is so boring." She whined halfway through the movie. "What else do you have here?" _

_"Sook, I want to watch the movie." I stated firmly. _

"_Why?" She complained as she got up off the couch and began looking at all the other videos my family owned. _

_"Because it got good reviews and I need to watch something that's going to make me think, some stimulus after being in the van for so long." _

_"I don't want something that's going to make me think right now, I just want something mindless and fun." She continued to look through all my movies. "Why do you have two copies of Ben-hur?" She asked. _

_"One was a gift, the other we bought. Sookie please sit down." I stood with every intention of making her sit down if I needed to. "You need to relax." _

_"I am relaxed. Oooohhhh, _The Witches of Eastwick_!" She exclaimed as she pulled it off the shelf. "Let's watch this!" She said turning around to face me. _

_I sighed. "Sookie, we have an hour left in this one, please let me see how it ends and then you can do whatever you want." I approached her and pulled the movie from her hands and placed it on the shelf beside her. She nodded slowly and I led her back to the couch. Once seated I pulled her close to me so she was leaning up against my side, one of the ways we typically slept in the van. _

_She was quiet for about ten minutes and then the questions started. "Who is that?" "Why is he doing that?" "Is he going to marry her?" "Daniel Day Lewis is too old for Cameron Diaz." _

_Finally, not knowing what to do I tickled her side. "Stop talking." I chided. _

_She stiffened immediately. "Don't tickle me. I really hate it." She was talking through gritted teeth. _

_"Really?" I taunted with a grin. "You're ticklish?" _

_"No." She said firmly, her hands balling into fists. "I just hate being tickled, there's a difference." _

_"Mmm-hmm." I moved towards her, completely ignoring what she was saying and began trying to tickle her. _

_"Stop!" She said firmly as my hands roamed over her midsection. "Please stop, Eric!" She finally said with a punch to my chest. _

_"Ow!" I said rubbing the spot she had hit._

_"I told you I don't like it." She smoothed out her hair. "It's not a cutesy thing, I really don't like it." _

"_Why?" I asked. _

"_My mom used to do it as an endearment. I guess it reminds me of her and I don't want to think about her ever." She gnawed on her lip._

_I felt bad. I really thought she was just ticklish. "Sorry." I said timidly as I rubbed the back of my neck. _

_"It's fine." She huffed looking down at me. I was leaning across the couch, my elbow propping me up looking up at her. _

_"I really am sorry. I can be a jerk sometimes." I lamented. _

_She laughed. "You're not a jerk, you're just an idiot who doesn't listen very well." She poked me in the chest where she had punched me. I winced in pain, she was a lot stronger than she looked. Her brow furrowed at my flinch and she leaned over to rub my chest, this put her face right over mine and without even thinking I kissed her, a sweet chaste kiss. Her first. _

_She sat up quickly as a quiet gasp escaped her lips and she brought her fingers up to touch her mouth. She looked away from me to the floor. _

"_Fuck, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have done that." I shifted, trying to meet her eye line. I had wanted to kiss her since I knew I wanted to kiss women. Sookie had always been there, her dark eyes, blonde hair, crooked smile, the girl with the gap between her teeth; she had always been in the back of my mind or in the corner of my eye. Now she was sitting in front of me deciding what to do. "Sook?" _

_She looked up at me and dropped her hand. "Um," she managed to get out before she crawled across the couch and kissed me far deeper than I had kissed her. _

_I froze for just a moment as I adjusted to what was happening. I didn't expect this to happen tonight, possibly ever and here she was, maneuvering herself to straddle me as her tongue pushed past my lips to dance with my own. "I don't know what I'm doing." She whispered out of breath, her hands tangling in my hair. _

_She was grinding against me which caused me to let out a moan. "You're fine." I managed to choke out as my eyes fluttered shut and my head fell back against the couch. "You're fine." I whimpered as my hands ran under her shirt. She shuddered from the skin to skin contact and found my lips again. _

_We made out for awhile. I knew that was all we were going to do and that was all I wanted to do. I didn't want her to do anything she might regret. No matter which way you looked at it, I was in business with Sookie, a business that was going really well and I wasn't going to fuck that up just because I mostly made decisions with my dick. _

"_Eric!?" My mother shouted and I could tell she was standing at the top of the stairs. Her sudden materialization scared me to death causing me to thrust upward and knock Sookie off me onto the floor but not before my cock hit her leg and more or less bent in half. _

"_Eric?!" she hollered again walking down two or three stairs as I rolled around on my couch in pain. Sookie was lying on her back on the floor, laughing. _

"_Sorry, Mrs. Northman, he just stubbed his toe and he's in a lot of pain." Sookie yelled as she sat up to look at me. I was now on my side, holding my myself, looking over at her as she giggled. _

"_It's kinda late, don't you think it's time you go home?" My mother suggested. "You two aren't touching each other inappropriately are you?!" She descended two more stairs. _

"_Not anymore." Sookie mumbled as she stood gathering her things. "Are you alright?" She asked me, holding her hand out to help me up. _

"_I will be." I told her as I got up slowly. _

"_Your mom is right, I probably should go." She said slinging her purse over her shoulder._

"_Eric!" My mother yelled for a final time. _

"_WHAT!?" I shouted at her frustrated because she would not leave us alone. _

"_I just wanted to make sure Sookie wasn't staying the night." She said quietly. I could see her slippered feet on the stairs. _

"_No, she is leaving now." I said back to her and she headed back upstairs. "I wish you weren't." I said quietly moving towards her. _

_She looked away from me and bit her lip, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I, I-" she stammered as I stood in front of her, reaching out for her hips, pulling her flush against me. "I'll be back here tomorrow, I have a lesson with Clara in the afternoon." _

"_Maybe we can finish the movie tomorrow then?" I suggested as she grabbed onto my biceps and looked up at me. She nodded and I lowered my head slightly to place a final kiss on her lips. _

"_I really need to go." She said shakily. _

_I let her go and she turned, quickly ascending the stairs as I followed behind her. _

_I think she was trying to avoid seeing my mother. She stopped quickly, her hand on the doorknob and turned to face me. "Bye." She cooed before kissing me on the cheek and went out the door leaving me in the hallway with a goofy grin on my face._

_I turned to see my mother resting against the banister. "From now on, if you two are in this house, I want you in a place where I can see you." She smiled and walked into the kitchen to make her nightly sleepy time tea. _

_I rolled my eyes and ran upstairs to take a cold shower. _

_**August 16, 2003 - 3:15pm - Bon Temps**_

_My mother sent me to grab groceries fifteen minutes before Sookie was set to show up. She had given Clara three lessons and I had joined in on the last one. As it turned out Clara was a quick learner and Sookie was a great teacher; I wanted to continue to be a part of that. _

_I went to the new Piggly Wiggly, picked up everything on my mom's list and headed out to the car. I was eager to get back to my house knowing that Sookie would be in it when I arrived. _

_Jessica was leaning against the trunk of my __family's__SUV__ when I reached the vehicle. "Hey stranger." She breathed out in a sultry manner. _

"_What do you want?" I moved her out of the way so I could load the bags into the trunk. _

_She shrugged. "I just finished my shift and saw your car and thought I'd come over and say hello. You weren't very nice to me last night, is the subpar trailer trash you're hanging out with affecting your judgment?" _

"_Jessica, I was hoping you'd take the hint by me not calling you all summer but clearly you haven't, I don't want to see you anymore. We're done." I closed the trunk and walked up to the driver's door. I could hear her clunky heeled shoes following behind me. _

"_Excuse me? No one ends it with me. I use you until I've had enough. I cut you loose and you get the privilege of telling people you got to fuck the hottest girl in school." She had a vein protruding from her forehead and her whole face was red. I was clearly the first person that had ever done this to her. _

"_School's over, Jess. Sorry." I opened my car door and she slammed it shut. _

"_You are going to take me some place quiet and you are going to fuck me until I am satisfied." _

"_Don't you have Hoyt to do that?" I looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and crossed my arms. _

"_Hoyt is an incapable idiot with a small dick." She tossed her hair and looked away from me. "Plus we broke up." _

"_Jessica, there are plenty of desperate men in this city that are willing to try to satisfy you, I am no longer one of them." I tried to open my car door and she slammed it for a final time. _

"_Fine, fine, I get it but how about one more for the road?" I eyed her suspiciously. "We go somewhere, you knock it out of the park one last time and I leave you alone forever. Everybody wins." She suggested with a smile on her face. _

_I knew my answer should have been no. I should've gotten in the car and driven away but her offer was tempting. She was a horrible person but she knew how to fuck. I could get rid of my Jessica problem, I get laid and can move onto Sookie. Sookie and I weren't together, no commitments had been made, it wasn't like I was cheating on Sookie, plus she would never know. The answer should have been no but that's not what my answer was. "Sure." I finally said to a very pleased Jessica. _

_She walked around the front of the car and got into the passenger side. "Where are you taking me?" She asked checking her makeup in the visor mirror. _

"_We can do it in the back seat." I suggested as I backed up and tried to exit the parking lot. _

_She made a noise of distaste. "We aren't in high school anymore Eric, take me somewhere real." _

"_The school is closed, the woods?" I recommended._

_She looked at me like I was crazy. "No."_

_All of our old haunts were out, we couldn't go to my house or hers and then I thought of the perfect location. "I know a place." _

"_Great." She smiled and nestled into the seat as we drove the familiar route to Sookie's house. _

_When I pulled into her driveway I was relieved to see her car was gone. I got out quickly and motioned for Jessica to do the same. "Hurry, lets get this over with." _

"_You are so romantic Eric. Have I ever told you that?" She called after me making no effort to catch up. _

_I opened up the garage door and ushered her inside immediately taking off my clothes. "Come on, Hamby, lets do this." _

_She was moving slowly to annoy me. "Aren't you going to seduce me?" She was playing coy. _

_I walked over to her and took off her shirt, kissing her neck hungrily, taking one of her breasts in my hand __while the other tried to get her out of __her __jean__ skirt. She moaned as I kissed my way down her chest trying to shimmy her out of her panties. __She started kissing any place she could reach so I began looking for places to fuck her, the best place to get the job done, get her clothes back on and get her out of here. If I was smart and as skilled as I thought I was this would be over in seven minutes. _

_I took off her bra and picked her up, moving her over to the tool bench. I placed her down on the edge and began fingering her, using my other hand to get my wallet out of my jeans and then get my pants undone. _

"_Eric!" She cried as my pants fell down around my ankles and I fished a condom out of my wallet. _

"_Put this on me." I instructed her as she leaned forward and rolled the rubber over my hardened length. She rested her head on my shoulder while I continued to work my fingers in and out of her. _

_Once the condom was on I removed my fingers and entered her in one fluid motion. She wrapped her arms around my neck __as__my arms found their way around her waist, holding her close to me angling her in a way I knew would give her an orgasm. I knew what she liked. It was easy. I got her off twice before I came, losing my senses for a few __blissful__ moments before I heard the garage door open. _

_I turned to see Sookie walk in. _

_The look on her face was a mix of anger, hurt and shock as she took in what was happening in front of her. I watched as her breaths became shallow, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Are you fucking kidding me!" She shouted shaking her head and closing the door. "Oh my God!" I could her hear her continue to yell._

_"Fuck," I said as I pulled up my pants and ran after her. _

_"Hey!" Jessica shouted after me as I ignored her, my only focus being Sookie. _

_"Sook!" I was sprinting towards her trying to catch up. "Sookie!" I said sternly grabbing her arm when I finally reached her. _

_"What?!" She yelled back at me pulling her arm out of my grasp. _

_"That," I pointed to the garage trying to think of the best way to phrase what needed to be said. "That wasn't what it looked like." I said lamely as I huffed rubbing my face in defeat. _

_"Oh it wasn't!" She tilted her head to the side and looked at me quizzically. "I guess its just the classic case of you tripped and she fell, huh?" She put her hands on her hips. _

_"Sookie, I just-" I shook my head. Out of all the people that could have caught me she was the worst one. Any possible chance that I had with her was now gone. I fucked up any chance of us being together because I couldn't control myself. What a stereotypical man I was. "I fucked up." I exhaled, there as no point in making excuses, what she saw was what she saw. "Why aren't you at my place?" I asked her. _

"_My shift ran late at __Bellefleur's__and I had to come back here to get my guitar." She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Are you seriously questioning why I'm at my own fucking house and why I'm fucking angry that you are fucking one of the worst people I have ever met, in __MY__fucking garage when you had your tongue in my mouth last fucking night?!" She was nearly panting she was so angry. I couldn't blame her._

"_I'm sorry, I'm an idiot." I didn't know what to say. I was quickly realizing there was nothing I could say. _

_"Why did you bring her here of all places? This is our place." I looked up to see the hurt expression on her face under all her fury. "This is the one place that was free of all that bullshit and you brought her here." _

_"It was the only private place I could think of to take her, I'd thought you'd never know." _

_"How long has this been going on?" She asked. _

_"Eight months, give or take." _

"_I asked you, flat out if you were dating her and you lied. I would have thought less of you but if this was going to happen," she motioned at the space in between us, "at least I would have known what type of guy I was doing it with." _

"_No, no, I technically didn't lie. I'm not dating her, this is strictly a casual sex situation." I said knowing it was the stupidest thing I possibly could have said and I wanted to strangle myself for saying it. _

_She laughed in disbelief. "Oh I'm sorry, this is my fault, I should have been clearer. Next time I will think out my questions so we don't get hung up on the fucking semantics." She shook her head for the final time and walked up the steps to her front door. "It doesn't matter, you saved me a lot of heartache so I thank you for showing me who you are now instead of being hurt by you later." Her voice quivered and she pulled open her screen door. _

"_Sook-" I pleaded, reaching out for her, ascending the first two stairs. _

_She swallowed hard and stepped into her house. "It's fine. We made out, it's not a big deal, we'll just forget about it and move on." _

"_I don't want to move on." I whispered feeling an ache in my chest, the ache of losing something you almost had and the anger of knowing you only have yourself to blame for losing it. _

_Her lips pursed together as she stared at me, pants still undone, shirtless, my hair a mess - I was vulnerable. "Tell Clara I'm sorry I couldn't make it today." She turned and closed the door behind her leaving me on her porch. _

_I stood there for a few moments letting the rejection sink in before turning to walk back towards the garage. "Fuck!" I shouted knotting my hands in my hair. _

_"Eric Northman!" I heard Adele Stackhouse reprimand me. "You watch your mouth or I'll have to clean it out with soap." _

_I turned to see her head sticking out her top floor bedroom window. "I'm sorry Mrs. Stackhouse."_

_"You owe the swear jar a dollar next time you're here." _

_"Yes Mrs. Stackhouse." I nodded in agreement. _

_"And do up your pants for gods sake, did your parents raise you in a barn?" She asked as she pulled her head back in the window. _

_I reached down to do them up. "Sorry again, Adele!" I yelled in the direction of the open window before walking back to the barn. _

_Jessica was fully clothed by the time I re-entered our rehearsal space and began speaking immediately. "I did you a favour Eric." She said sitting on a couch looking at her nails. "Actually I did her a favour." Her face scrunched up. "Gross, I just did a favour for Sookie Stackhouse." _

"_What are you talking about?" I asked as I disposed of the condom. _

"_You're an asshole, I'm an asshole, we belong together but Sookie is not an asshole. Under her Courtney Love grunge exterior she is a doe eyed Disney Princess. Super naive, completely inexperienced and she lets things cut her too deep. She couldn't handle you and you would grow bored of her. I saved you both time and hurt feelings." She stood and smiled. "I'm kind of like a saint, you are so lucky you have me." She bent over and handed me my shirt. "Take me home please." _

_I put on my shirt and turned from her without so much as a word. She followed me all the way to the car and waited to be let in. I rolled down the window and looked at her. "I held up my part of the deal so we are done now, find your own way home." _

_I backed up and left her there. I sped the entire way home beyond angry with myself. Jessica was right, I was an asshole. I was the worst kind of asshole, I was an asshole that thought he was a good guy. A good guy wouldn't have gone near Jessica or Sarah or any of the other vapid girls I had been with in the first place. At the very least a good guy would have said no to Jessica in the parking lot. _

_I managed to ruin a relationship with Sookie one day in. I was a clusterfuck in human form. _

_I threw all the groceries on the counter when I got home and walked up to my room. I passed Clara's to find her with a small pink guitar that Sookie had bought her reading sheet music. "Fuck." I groaned for what felt like the hundredth time that day and went into my room to grab my guitar. _

"_Hey Clara." I said slowly opening her door. "Sookie can't make it today because she's sick but I told her I was going to give you a lesson instead." I sat down on her bed and tuned my guitar. "Is that okay?" I asked my sister. _

_She frowned, she was clearly upset that Sookie wasn't coming. I had fucked that up too. "I guess." She shrugged, picking up her guitar and coming to sit near me. _

_I asked her what she had been doing since her last lesson and I taught her how to play "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple. It was an easy beginner song and she was growing bored with nursery rhymes. _

_After her lesson I took a shower to wash Jessica off me. I needed to change who I was, I needed to learn to control myself, show and have more respect for women and pick better ones. I had to lose this part of myself if I was ever going to get Sookie to forgive and to see me in a better light. I made a vow to myself to become the man she used to think I was so I could win back her trust and win her heart. I needed to be with her and I wouldn't stop till I was. _

_**August 18, 2003 - 1:48pm - Bon Temps - Sookie Stackhouse's Driveway**_

_I didn't see Sookie again until the afternoon we were leaving for Jackson. She was picked up last, waiting on her driveway with three guitars beside her and her arms crossed over her chest. The second we had pulled up beside her Tara and Alcide jumped out to greet her. _

_She gave a huge hug to Tara and Alcide when they jumped out of the van to help her, she even went as far as to complement Alcide on his shirt. It was the same plaid shirt he always wore. _

_Her eyes went dark when she focused on me. "Can you load these for me?" She asked practically throwing her guitar at me. I looked up at Alcide who was giving me a wide eyed questioning look as I pushed her electric into the back of the van. _

_Bill came around the car and hung up his phone. He was always on it, clarifying deals, getting us gigs, without him we wouldn't have been as successful as we were so fast. He hugged Sookie tightly before pulling out piece of paper and running down it with her. If Bill was the head honcho then Sookie was his right hand man. When it came to the songs he wrote, where we were playing, what we were playing and how we were going to play it; he wanted her opinion first. The change that he made in that summer was astonishing. He was a completely different person and it was for the better no matter how much I disliked his closeness with Sookie. _

"_Alright, lets leave. It'll take about three and a half hours to get there, we stop at Alcide's grandparents house, drop of our clothes, get some food and then head to the venue. We have sound check at seven and we are on at ten thirty. Everyone got it?" Bill asked as his phone rang and he walked back to the front of the van to answer it before we got a chance to answer him. _

_I turned my attention to Sookie who was placing her acoustic in the van. "Hey." _

_She gave me a side glance as she arranged the equipment. "What?" _

"_How are you?" I inquired as I took a step towards her. _

"_Fuck you." _

"_Okay, still mad." I sighed. "Can I help you into the van?" I offered trying to do anything I could for her. _

_Anger swept her face as she took a step towards me. She was so close I could smell the citrus body wash she always used. "You have to be crazy if you think I'm going to be any closer to you than I have to. I'm sitting up front with Bill." She turned her back to me and disappeared from my view. _

_Alcide approached me with a nudge. "So she seems a little frosty. Whatcha do?" _

_I huffed and rubbed my face. I hadn't been sleeping much the past two days. "She caught me with Jessica." _

"_Hamby?" _

"_Yeah." _

"_God, she has the best tits." He grinned._

"_You've slept with her?" I asked. _

"_Who hasn't?" He shrugged. "I don't understand why that would make Sookie so mad though." _

"_I kinda, sorta made out with her the night before." My nose scrunched up and I made a noise of exhaustion and disappointment._

_Alcide started to laugh. "Oh, you are so pretty but so, so stupid. She is never going to forgive you, you fucking idiot." He continued to laugh as he got into the van. _

"_Thanks for the support Herveaux." I mumbled as I followed him. _

"_Not only did you fuck around with someone else but Hamby has always been an asshole to Sookie." His laughter was dying down and his voice became a whisper. _

"_I know." _

"_Man, if this fucks up the band we are kicking you out. She's too good of a guitar player." _

"_Yeah, I know." _

"_Just give her time. She'll be fine." He placed his hand on my shoulder in a supportive gesture._

"_You think she'll give me another shot?" I asked hopefully._

_He laughed again. "I didn't say that, I'm just saying that maybe one day she won't hate you. Virgins never forget." _

_I sighed and banged my head against the side of the van. This was going to be a long three days._

* * *

**So Eric was kind of douche in this. Eric was a douche in high school. Now you know why they didn't get together. **

**I also see Bill differently in my head in this story. To me he looks more like Sebastian Stan than Stephen Moyer. **

**Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next one is from Sookie's POV, the morning after the drunken hookup. **

**Please review if you have a moment, I really appreciate it. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. A One Time Thing

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm so sorry this took so long. My wedding is taking up a lot of my time, I've started taking a grammar class and I have so many other ideas rattling around in my head that it's taking a lot of work to focus on this and Summer Nights. I've been trying to write everyday so hopefully the next chapter will be posted sooner rather than later. I also have a lot of trouble writing the subject matter this chapter deals with but I will talk about that at the end of the chapter. **

**I want to thank the lovely outinritefield1 for editing this chapter. **

**Thank you to ljhjelm49, vmhsnancy, scorpiolady68, MissRon, LostInSpace33, MsNorthman, Erullisse, Perfecta999, ciasteczko, Nicolle1977 and ashmo2000 for reviewing the last chapter. **

**I hope this was worth the wait and I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

I woke up the next morning in my bed with a vengeful hangover; rolling over on my back, I placed my hand on my head. "Oh my god," I groaned, sitting up and putting my other hand on my stomach, feeling the acid and alcohol sloshing around encouraging my sickness.

The hand on my stomach immediately flew to my mouth as I ran to the bathroom and threw up violently into the toilet. After my stomach was empty, I flushed the toilet and collapsed onto the cold tile, whimpering, "I'm never drinking again."

Crawling across the floor, I pulled myself up to the sink to brush my teeth. I opened a bottle of water to do so and when I was done I drank the rest. I got a good look at myself in the mirror and I looked like hell warmed over. I brushed my hair, wiped my face clean of any makeup and moisturized. I found some Advil for my head and opened another bottle of water, finishing that as well.

I took a deep breath in; I was feeling better, not great, but better. I walked back into the bedroom and laid down on the bed with the intent of going back to sleep. As I lay there I began going over the events from the previous evening. These were the things I knew for sure: it was Jesus' birthday, we played Flip, Sip or Strip and I drank a lot. I tried to remember particulars, I remembered talking to Eric and Luna about Nicki Minaj, I remembered Alcide trying to persuade Jesus to sing karaoke and I remembered dancing with Eric in a way that is less than appropriate.

Eric.

The night seemed drenched in Eric. We danced on the coffee table half naked to Biggie. We went outside and talked. We talked a lot about so many things but there was no memory of how I had gotten back to my room and into bed. As realization dawned me I gasped and brought my hand to my mouth.

I had sex with Eric. Hysteria coursed through my body but I lay perfectly still on my bed trying to figure out if it had actually happened or if it was an alcohol fuelled sex dream caused by having danced so intimately with him.

No, it couldn't have been a dream. The details, which were flooding back to me, were too vivid. I could feel the shadow of his hands all over my body, what his lips felt like against mine, what he felt like inside of me. Those memories couldn't have been dreams; they were very, very real.

I felt three very different emotions as I processed what I had done. The first was worry. This could destroy not only our friendship but the band. I was lucky that Eric was there when Bill left the band. If he were to leave now or if I did, the band would not survive. Our friendship would be in shambles as well and I couldn't lose Eric, he was my centre, the main thing that kept me from spinning out. He was good for me.

The second was confusion. I wasn't sure what our night together meant, if anything. To Eric, it could have just been a drunken one night stand with a friend. To him, sex was just something you did, it didn't hold any kind of weight like it did for me. It could have simply been a night of release; a one time thing. It confused me because I didn't want it to be a one time thing, I wanted to do it again. Out of all the things I could remember from the night before, it was the orgasm that stood out in my mind. It was the fastest I had ever had one and probably the most intense. My life was a mess, intense and efficient orgasms weren't something I wanted to give up.

This confusion led into the next feeling, giddiness. I was giddy! I hadn't felt this good in a long time. It was the first time since the break up I didn't immediately think of Bill the moment I woke up. I had my hangover to partially thank for that but everything else was Eric and I wanted him again.

I bit my lip and sat up realizing I was never going to sleep with these thoughts rattling around in my dehydrated head. I closed my eyes and listened for any noise inside the house. It sounded empty so either everyone was still asleep or they were out. I reached for my cell phone and saw that it was a quarter past noon. They were definitely out. No one in this band, hungover or not, slept that late.

I stood and put on some boy shorts and the first shirt I could find; a well worn cotton t-shirt Eric had given me for my 21st birthday. It said, 'fuck you Eric' on it; he said it was my favorite phrase and I should have a shirt to commemorate that. I hesitated before putting it on, not wanting to give him the wrong idea but it was the most comfortable shirt I owned and I wanted to be at ease.

I opened my door and padded out quietly with the intent of looking for Eric or waiting for him in his room until he returned with the others.

I didn't have to look for long, he was sitting at the island eating a bowl of cereal and reading a magazine. He had on a pair of stripped pyjama bottoms, no shirt and no socks. His hair was a mess and he was wearing his reading glasses. He looked up at me as he swallowed whatever food he had in his mouth. "Morning," he croaked.

I walked towards him, shuffling my feet and rubbing my arm awkwardly. "Morning," I replied as I reached the island and pulled myself up so I was sitting and facing him. "Where is everyone?"

"Luna is leading them on a detox hike." He paused to put a spoonful of cereal in his mouth. "I figured I would stay here so you weren't alone when you woke up." He said through his food.

I nodded slowly and looked out the window at the beach while I decided how to approach this. How do you ask one of your oldest friends to be your fuck buddy while you get over his best friend? "Are you hungover?" I asked. I knew he was because of the light layer of sweat covering his forehead and torso. Eric was always sweaty when he was hungover no matter the temperature and right now we were standing in a snow globe. There was a layer of goosebumps covering my skin.

He nodded slowly as he looked up at me over his glasses. "You?"

"Yep," I answered gripping the edge of the counter.

"You should eat something, you'll feel better. I can make you something if you want."

"What are you eating?" I asked leaning towards him to look into the bowl.

He laughed and slid whatever was remaining over to me. "Here, finish it."

I picked up the dish and scooped a spoonful of mushy bran flakes and raisins into my mouth. "I didn't know they had Raisin Bran in Brazil."

He let out a sigh of exhaustion. "Are we gonna talk about what happened last night or ignore it? I just need to know how to play this." He leaned towards me as I looked down at him, trying to slurp up milk that was dribbling down my chin.

I took a deep breath and put the bowl down. "I want to talk about it."

"Do you regret it?" He was staring at me with so much concentration it made me feel awkward and then nervous.

His intensity threw me off and it took me longer to answer than I would have liked. "No," I managed to say. "Do you?"

He paused and looked away from me deciding what to say. "In a way yes but ultimately, no, I don't regret it." He turned to face me again.

I furrowed my brow wanting to question him as to what he meant but he spoke before me. "Well, if you don't regret it and I don't regret it then there's no need for anything to be awkward. We can just put it behind us and move on. No big deal, it was a one time thing." He flipped to the next page of the magazine.

"Or..." I squeaked out after I worked up the bravery to say something.

"Or what?" He inquired curiously.

"Or it cannot be a one time thing." I shot him a side glance.

He shifted in his chair so his whole body was angled towards me. "What?"

"Would it be so bad if we did it a few more times? Help each other out? Good sex is good sex, it seems like a waste to just never do it again if we are both single."

"So you're saying you want to be fuck buddies?" He tilted his head towards me like that would somehow help him hear me better.

"Friends with benefits is a nicer term." I grinned at him as he stood, placing his hands on my thighs, spreading my legs slightly so he could stand in between them, leaning against the counter. "But I think we should set some ground rules before we do this, no need to get caught up in semantics." I informed him, placing my hands on his warm chest letting my fingers trace over his tattoos.

"What are your terms?" He asked bringing his lips to my neck, dragging them across the skin as his warm breath made my nipples harden.

"This cannot effect the band." I moaned out as he kissed behind my ear. "The band must always come first."

"Agreed." He murmured, his tongue running up the length of neck.

"This is strictly sex. If we develop feelings for one another then we have to opt out. I just can't be in a relationship right now."

"Okay."

"I think we shouldn't worry the band with this, it stays between you and me."

"Yeah, if its just sex then there is no reason they should know." His hands were ghosting down my sides pulling me closer to him.

"Do you have anything you'd like to add?" I asked pulling his glasses off his face and placing them on the counter.

"What happens when this trip is over and we go back to the real world?" He asked as he lightly trailed his fingertips up the outside of my thighs.

"Can we cross that bridge when we get there?" I asked running my hands up his chest and over his shoulders. "Can this just be what it is for right now?"

He looked away from me before nodding. "I can live with that." He smiled as he leaned in to kiss me but my hand immediately came up to push him away. "What? What's the matter?" He questioned.

"I don't think we should kiss." I said, my fingers lingering on his lips.

He rolled his eyes. "What is this, _Pretty Woman_? I'm kissing you Sook." He leaned in again and I pushed him away a second time.

"I think it's too intimate. It's just a recipe for disaster, it'll lead to feelings to quickly." This was the thing I was most frightened by, I already loved him and I knew how easy it would be to _fall_ in love with him and that was something I couldn't handle. I knew what it was like to be hurt by Eric Northman and it was something I didn't want to feel again.

He sighed and leaned in, lightly dragging his lips over my own before whispering, "I'm going to taste you, I'm going to be inside of you, I'm going come inside of you. It really doesn't get much more intimate than that."

My heart was racing, my breathing was shallow while my body flushed and arousal began to pool between my legs, my hips bucking forward.

"I'm going to kiss you now." His hand snaked down to the small of my back and he cradled my head to keep me in place while his lips touched my own.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself towards him so my body was even with his. The kisses were different then the night before, these kisses weren't as frantic but instead more passionate. His lips were soft, warm, supple and he tasted like milk and bran. He smelled sweet from the alcohol making its way out of his pores and his natural musk that I was so familiar with swirled around me. This was the most muscular he had ever been, solid, firm, and comforting. I felt safe.

He tugged at the hem of my shirt trying to pull it up and over my head. His hands moved up my sides until they reached my breasts and traced the tattoos under them. His hands were rough and calloused, like mine, from playing the guitar for so many years. The sensation was so different from being touched by Bill who had long, soft piano fingers.

His hands slowly moved over my breasts before he palmed them in his large hands, taking the time to pinch my nipples between his fingers. A moan escaped my lips. His mouth captured mine and I pulled myself as close as I could, needing friction, rubbing myself against his prominent erection.

I whimpered into his mouth needing him to touch me. "Eric."

"What do you want me to do?" He asked taking a nipple into his mouth.

I took the hand which wasn't supporting his weight and placed it against my cunt. He stood and looked at me, not allowing me to break eye contact. The panties I was wearing were damp with my juices and Eric moaned when he pushed the fabric aside and ran his fingers over my slick folds, circling my clit so my hips bucked off the counter. "God," I exhaled leaning my head on his shoulder.

He began planting kisses along my hair line just as he curled two fingers into me while using the heel of his palm against my clit. "Fuck." I cried out, falling back, gripping the edge of the counter as he pumped his digits in and out of me.

After a few moments he withdrew his fingers and I sat up. "What? No, come back." I nearly wept before realizing he had dropped to his knees and began kissing my inner thighs slowly, painfully slow, so slow I jerked my hips forward needing his mouth on me at that exact moment.

He looked up at me and shook his head. "Sook, all good things to those who wait." He grinned as he continued to kiss down my legs down toward my feet. I nodded and told myself to relax, enjoy what he was doing.

He knew I wasn't a foot person and he stopped kissing at my ankles, moving back up, mixing some love bites in between his kisses. "Don't leave marks I can't explain," I reminded him after one of his bites felt particularly deep.

He took my legs and hooked them over his shoulders moving so close to my pussy I could feel his breath against the wetness between my legs. The anticipation was killing me and I was quivering, my legs tightening and then releasing around his head. I was clutching the counter so tightly I thought I was going to break it and I moaned when the flat of his tongue pressed against me.

I heard him groan as he continued to lap at my arousal, sucking on my clit working me into a frenzy. My breathing had become shallow and I could feel my orgasm building in my lower abdomen. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more he thrust his two fingers back into me, scissoring them rapidly. I came moments after that, my vision going dark and the world going silent around me as pleasure engulfed my body, all my nerves firing at once.

When I regained my senses he was standing and pulling my panties off, I could feel the wet trails his fingers left on my outer thigh as he finally removed the garment and tossed it aside.

I could hear him fidgeting with his pants as he moved in between my legs and pushed his cock into me slowly.

I gasped at the sensation and sat up fully, wrapping my arms around his shoulders as he began to move in and out of me.

"I can't believe this is actually happening." I breathed out as both of his hands cupped my ass and he moved me off the counter, bobbing me up and down as he saw fit.

"Again," he said absentmindedly, focusing on the task at hand.

"What?" I panted.

"Again, this is the second time. It's happening again." He moaned as he pushed me up against the counter, thrusting into me harder and deeper than he had before.

I gasped and clawed at his back, biting his shoulder.

"Don't leave marks I can't explain, Sook." He smirked the best he could, throwing my words back at me.

I wasn't even listening to him anymore as Eric continued to move in and out of me, his cock rubbing me in just the right spot. "Like that, like that. Hard and fast." I exhaled, gripping the back of his neck and the edge of the counter as he secured his arm around my waist and did as I asked.

It didn't take me long after that as the reality fell away for a few blissful moments while I came in Eric's arms.

Eric's legs gave out when his release came seconds after and we slowly lowered to the floor, desperately gasping for air. I sat on top of him, his length softening inside me as I rested my head on his shoulder. "You're good at that." I panted.

He chuckled. "What? Sex?"

I nodded.

"It's pretty much the only thing I have ever been good at, other than music." He admitted as he smoothed the hair away from my face and planted kisses anywhere he could. "You're not so bad yourself."

"I did nothing."

"You're vocal and that is very encouraging, believe me." His eyes scanned my face as the slightest grin pulled at his lips.

I smiled back and kissed him, knowing he was right, I wouldn't have been able to do this without being able to kiss. I stood as I held out my hand to help him up.

It was then we heard the shouting and giggling and we shot each other a worried glance knowing our roommates were on their way back from their hike.

"Fuck." We said at the same time as I bent down to pick up my panties and shirt and he put his pants back on.

We looked at each other and started smoothing out the others hair and making sure our clothes were on properly. I flew to the couch and turned on the TV and picked up a magazine on the table and began thumbing through it, not paying attention to any of the articles or pictures.

Eric calmly put his glasses back on and took his dish to the sink and began cleaning it.

"Wasn't that fun guys! Don't you feel so much better!" Luna sang as she came through the back door.

"I threw up two times Luna!" Alcide stated through gritted teeth.

"But you feel better, don't you?" She asked with her hands on her hips as all my other bandmates and their lovers filtered in looking as horrible as I'm sure they felt. My hangover had dulled considerably since the orgasmic endorphins were running through my veins.

"How was the hike?" I asked as innocently as possible.

"You are so lucky you were asleep." Tara muttered as she passed me heading for her bedroom.

Jesus and LaFayette collapsed on the couches on either side of me with moans of pain and discomfort. "I hate your birthday, Jesus!" LaFayette lazily shouted at his husband.

"I'm starting to hate it myself." Jesus agreed rolling on his back placing his hand on his forehead.

"Aren't you hungover, Sook?" LaFayette asked.

I nodded. "I've been hungover a lot so I am very good at hiding it." I smiled slyly and let my eyes drift to the TV.

Eric came around the other side of me and plopped down on the couch. He took the magazine out of my hand turned it right side up. I hadn't even noticed it was upside down. I looked over at him and he grinned. "Maybe you are more hungover than you think, Sook." He wiggled his eyebrows. "This is going to be fun."

I rolled my eyes and went back to reading the magazine, actually reading it as I tried not to think about the heat rolling off his body, or the musty, salty smell of his skin or the feeling of his hands all over me.

Eric started flipping through the channels and settled on a familiar show. "Oooooo, _Stomp_ is on!" He exclaimed as he relaxed into the seat beside me.

I let out a breath. I really hoped this wasn't a mistake.

* * *

**So what did everyone think? **

**One of the main reasons this took so long is because I'm not very good at writing smut. I want to get better at it. I have a problem what to call all the anatomy bits so I just went for it. I hope it was sort of okay. **

**If you have time to review please leave one! I love them. **


	13. Do We Have A Deal?

**A/N: I've been suffering for crazy writers block so I've decided just to write. I don't care if it's good and I can't care if you like it. I stress about reviews too much and it keeps me from writing what I want. That's not your fault, it's mine and I'm working on it. I finally got married and I have nothing pressing coming up in my life so I'm hoping to write a little more. I'll see how it goes. **

**Thanks to B-Rock525, Guest, MagpieTales, ciasteczko, Perfecta999, ashmo2000, LostInSpace33, Nicolle1977, Tynee23, MrNorthman, covenmama, scorpiolady68, ljhjelm49, and MissRon for reviewing the last chapter. It's much appreciated. **

**Again, I picture Bill looking more like Sebastian Stan than Stephen Moyer for this story. **

**Here's Eric's POV again.**

* * *

**_August 18, 2003 - Jackson, Mississippi _**

_The ride to Jackson was quite. Bill rambled on about the sets and would ask us questions periodically while Tara slept, Alcide played his Gameboy and I formulated ways to try to persuade Sookie to forgive me. Sookie had said nothing other than the odd comment to Bill when she thought he was wrong. She sat with her back angled towards me and her feet sticking out the window. She would occasionally fiddle with the radio when the stations began to crackle as we drove in and out of counties. _

_Alcide's grandparents were as accommodating as Adele and had food waiting for us when we arrived. After eating, taking a nap and showering we headed over to the venue, Duling Hall, for sound check. _

_We spent the time before going on stage drinking with the other bands and smoking as many cigarettes as we could. Sookie kept her distance and stuck to Tara or Bill like glue, talking about anything to keep her attention off me. _

_We had the ten o'clock slot which was the best time to go on because everyone was drunk but not hammered. The crowd went crazy for us and loved when Sookie and Bill sang a rendition of Johnny Cash's "Jackson". No matter how cynical or cool you were, hometown pride was something most people couldn't shake._

_After the show everyone told us how much they loved our set and how much chemistry our lead singer and guitarist had. I tried not to let the jealousy flow through me but I couldn't help it; I should've been happy they had chemistry, good chemistry equalled an entertaining show, which led to more fans, which meant more buzz, which equalled more scouts, which would eventually lead to a record deal but I didn't care. I wanted her, I wanted the chemistry, I wanted everyone to comment on how amazing _we_ were together. _

_But I had fucked that up. _

_We ducked out early and hit Memphis, Tennessee a few hours before dawn. We checked into a cheap motel and worked out sleeping arrangements which were usually a breeze but that night were a struggle. _

_"Sook, just get in the bed." Bill said sternly as he rubbed his tired eyes. He was wearing forest green sweatpants and no shirt. _

_"Eric has to sleep with Tara and Alcide." She was pulling at the ends of the oversized Pearl Jam t-shirt she had on, a shirt she had stolen from me. _

_"Why?" Tara questioned from the bed she was already snuggled in. Alcide beside her with his mouth guard and sleeping mask already on. He was in the process of putting in his ear plugs. _

_"I just don't want to sleep beside him." She whined climbing onto the bed. _

_"Alcide has weird night terrors and he can't sleep with more than one person." Bill was slipping under the covers. "Sook, if you don't want to sleep in the bed with him, feel free to take the floor." _

_Sookie rolled her eyes and huffed. "Fine, but you," she pointed at me, "as far away from me as possible and on your back." _

_I threw my hands up. "Whatever," I said mimicking her sigh, getting into the bed and lying on the far side. Even though I was as far over as I could go there still wasn't much room between us. _

_Sookie was moving up against Bill spooning him. I looked over at the both of them feeling my jealousy flare again, that was how she usually slept with me. I watched as Bill's head popped up over her shoulder. "I'm not sure what happened between you two but you better sort it out." _

_"There's nothing to sort out." Sookie spat and looked up at me. "Don't you dare look at me while I sleep." She scolded before closing her eyes. _

_"Don't worry, I won't." I mumbled as I looked up at the ceiling and waited for Alcide's snoring to lull me to sleep. _

**_August 19, 2003 - Memphis, Tennessee_**

_The next day we played Levitt Shell, a massive outdoor venue that could hold thousands of people, more people than we had ever played to. It turned out to be one of the worse shows we would ever play. _

_It was 106 degrees that day, one of the hottest Memphis had ever seen, and we were playing at 1 p.m. to a field of families with small children who did not want to hear what we were going to play. _

_"There is a Wiggles cover band going on before us." Alcide lamented as he looked over the line-up. "Did you not know this was a family event? Why would they even book us?" He faced Bill._

_"Why are there so many old people?" I asked imagining how huge of a disaster this was going to be. _

_"We should hydrate too, that sun is going to kill us." Sookie informed with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. _

_"They said there would be thousands of people, which there are, but they failed to mention what age. The guy knew our music style, if he booked us there's a reason for it." Bill was confident as he took off his shirt. He was sweating like a pig, we all were. Tara and Sookie were in swimsuits and Alcide and I had taken off our shirts the moment we got to the venue. _

_"Maybe he's a sadist." Alcide offered as he rolled his eyes and dumped a bottle of water over his head. _

_Sookie and Tara were sitting in the corner giggling with each other as they lazily fanned themselves. I tried not to focus on her nearly naked frame, how her long tan legs tangled with Tara's as they told each other secrets. _

_I looked up at Bill to distract myself. He was pacing; he was always pacing. I wondered if he would die if he stopped. "Hey Bill," I said and he ceased moving to look at me. "Where's Lorena? I thought you said she was meeting us here." _

_He frowned and ran his hand through his hair. "We broke up two days ago." _

_"Awe, I'm really sorry to hear that. I liked Lorena." Sookie piped up sounding sympathetic. _

_Bill scoffed. "No, you didn't."_

_"No, I really didn't." Sookie laughed leaning into the side of the tent. _

_"Why did you break up?" I probed. "If you don't mind me asking."_

_"She thought I was cheating on her." Bill shook his head. _

_"Were you?" I asked. _

_"No, of course not," he scoffed, "when would I have time to cheat? The band takes up all my time." _

_"Oh trust me Bill, there's a way to find time." Sookie said venomously shooting me a cold look. _

_"What is that supposed to mean? Is this why the two of you have been so weird lately?" He asked as I adverted my eyes and looked over at Alcide who had a smirk plastered on his face. _

_"You know what, never mind." Bill sighed in exasperation and threw his hands up in the air. "I guess it doesn't matter, Lorena thought I was cheating with Sookie anyway." _

_"Why me?" Sookie asked genuinely shocked. _

_"Why wouldn't I cheat on her with someone as beautiful as you?" Bill said quietly as Sookie blushed and looked away, her hair creating a curtain over her face. "At least, that's what she kept asking me." _

_"Well, I'm really sorry it didn't work out Bill." I said lying through my teeth. The last thing I needed was another single guy who Sookie could hook up with. _

_At that moment a bearded, stringy haired roadie popped his head in. "You guys are on in ten." _

_"Thanks man." Alcide smiled. _

_"It's hot as fuck outside so," the roadie paused, "good luck."_

_Bill grabbed his shirt and pull it over his sweaty chest. "Fuck." He mumbled, shaking his head. We all followed his lead and got ready to go on stage except for Alcide who was going out shirtless. _

_The roadie wasn't kidding, the sun was an inferno and I questioned the sanity of every person who had decided to come that day. Most people hugged the tree line or had put up large umbrellas or small tents to shield themselves from the sun. _

_Tara was being covered by the awning and Alcide stood right along the line of shade so he wouldn't be baking in the sun. The trees were covering my half of the stage so I was adequately covered but Sookie had to take the full force sun. Her whole body was already covered in sweat and she kept a bottle of water near, drinking from it often. Bill was in the middle of the stage and drifted in between my shade and Sookie's scorching sun. _

_"You want to trade?" I asked her quickly, approaching her cautiously. "It's hot; I don't mind standing here." _

_"I'm fine." She said tight lipped as a bead of sweat rolled down her chest. Her white tank top was see-though now and wet spots were appearing on her jeans shorts._

_I sighed and walked back to my side as Bill introduced us. "We are the International Sex Station!" He pointed back to Tara. _

_"1,2,3,4!" She shouted banging her sticks over her head and jumped right into "Hey, I Don't Know." I put the violin under my chin and positioned myself so I could sing at the same time. _

_Some of the parents were into the song while most of the children thought it was too loud, they spent most of the song with their hands over their ears. As we kept playing teenagers and young adults slowly began to emerge out of the woods and were walking up to the stage. It was clear all of these kids were on drugs and I shot a look at Alcide and then to Sookie who even in her anger couldn't deny me a glance of bewilderment. _

_By the end of our second song the area was packed and all the drug fuelled teenagers were into our sound. Even though they liked us they were erratic in their movements, either too fast or too slow, I was pretty sure we could have just tuned our instruments and they would have been into it. Our looks definitely helped and we were flashed our fair share of breasts causing me to stare at the sky for most of the set. _

_We only needed to preform six songs and then we could leave, we were half done and I could tell Sookie was suffering. She was dumping water over her head and trying to find any source of shade in between songs. _

_"Sook!" I screamed at her. "Let's switch!" _

_She scowled at me like I had told her she was fat. "I'm fine, Northman!" She yelled back clearly not fine. She was stumbling slightly and her breathing looked erratic. _

_"You're going to get heat exhaustion." I said to her much quieter this time having walked across the stage. _

_"I know what the limits of my body are. I'm fine." She spat turning to Bill who was introducing the next song. _

_I shook my head at her stubbornness making my way to my place on stage. _

_She appeared to get worse with each passing song. I tried to focus on performing but I couldn't. I went on auto pilot and all my attention was solely on Sookie. _

_Just as the last note of "In the Meantime" rang out and the crowd began cheering, Sookie started to stagger backwards, unplugging her guitar as her eyes rolled back in her head and she started to fall back towards the ground. _

_She hit the stage with a thud that triggered a gasp from the audience. Alcide was to her first, his arms immediately wrapping around her shoulders and supporting her weight. Bill and Tara reached them second and me moments after. _

_"Sook, Sook!" Alcide shouted as he lightly smacked her face in hopes that she would wake up. _

_"What a professional she is," Bill was shaking his head in awe, "She was suffering but she finished the set, I mean she even unplugged. She's incredible." Bill cooed as Tara poured water all over Sookie while Alcide picked her up. _

_I looked over at Bill. "While I agree with you, now is not really the time. She needs medical attention." _

_"There's a medical tent out back." Bill pointed in the general direction it was in. "Alcide you take her there, we'll tear down and we'll meet you back there soon." _

_We packed everything up lightening quick as the crowd kept asking us if the blonde girl was going to be okay. Bill kept saying he was sure she was going to be fine but there was no way of knowing because he wasn't a doctor. _

_After all the equipment was in the van the head of the festival came back to ask what happened. He refused to believe our explanation and was convinced that Sookie must have taken drugs. He clearly had no idea what the effects of 106 degree sun could have on a 120 pound girl who had been standing in it for 30 minutes. He refused to pay us but by that time we didn't care, we just wanted to get out of there. _

_When we got back to the medical tent Sookie was still out and she had an IV in her arm. "Is she going to be okay?" I asked the medic. _

_She rolled her eyes at me. "She's gonna be fine. She just dehydrated, it's not like she has cancer." _

_I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair going to over to Sookie's bed where everyone was sitting. _

_"Did the nurse person say anything?" Tara asked looking up at me. _

_I shrugged. "We just have to wait for her to be hydrated again." _

_Everyone nodded and we discussed the set we were going to play in Nashville at the Exit/In club the following day. _

_It only took 45 minutes for Sookie to wake up. She stirred slightly with a sharp intake of breath. Her hand quickly went up to where the IV in her arm and she looked around at all of us with panic in her eyes. _

_"Sook, are you all right?" I asked grabbing her hand. _

_She fell back on to the bed pulling her hand out of mine and resting it on her head. "Yeah, I'm just-" She let out a laugh. "Does anyone have a smoke I can bum?" She asked. _

_Bill rolled his eyes. "She's fucking fine." He turned to look at the medic asking if Sookie could be discharged. _

_"You gave us a scare, Legs. It was pretty badass." Alcide lightly nudged her on the arm. _

_"I told you we should have switched." I reprimanded. _

_"Well, you say a lot of stuff Eric, it's hard to figure out what you actually mean and what is total and utter bullshit." She snapped at me taking a sip out of the bottle of water Tara handed her. _

_"Okay, what happened between you two?" Tara pointed between us with an eyebrow cocked. _

_"We can go." Bill said pushing Alcide out of the way so medic could get through. "I want to have plenty of time when we get to Nashville and you need to rest." He pointed at Sookie. "Do you need anything? I need you strong, Sook." He smiled at her. _

_"No, just sleep and water. I'll be good." She sat up after the IV was out and stood. Her legs were still weak and she wrapped her arm around Bill's waist to stable herself and he put his arm over her shoulder. They walked out of the tent and headed towards the parking lot, Tara right behind them. _

_I watched them till Alcide slugged me in the shoulder. "Come on Blondie, you don't stand a chance if you ain't in the van." He winked at me and nearly skipped out of the tent and I followed dragging my feet. _

**_August 20, 2003 - Nashville, Tennessee_**

_We made good time to Nashville and got booked into our motel quickly. There were no arguments about the bed this time and I respected Sookie's wishes and stayed away from her while she slept and regained her strength. _

_The day went by smoothly, there was no fighting, sound check was a breeze and green room was actually stocked for a change. _

_As for the gig itself, it went perfectly, flawlessly even and we were all on cloud 9. We all knew there was at least one scout in the audience that night and we were hoping one would come waltzing backstage to give us a record deal. It had been a long three days and we needed some good news. _

_There was a knock on the door that caused us all to look up as we made sure all our gear was packed correctly and ready to take to the van. The wind was knocked out of me as I took in who was standing there. _

_Dave Grohl stood, in all his rock star glory, at the door. In addition to his carefree smile he was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt. "I just wanted to say I really like your sound." _

_None of us moved, we all just stared at him wide eyed. _

_He shifted uncomfortably at our awkward silence and shoved his hand in his pocket. "Yeah, that rock, country, alternative, pop sound you have, whatever it is, I hope I hear more of it in the future." He smiled again. _

_Sookie was the one to finally say something. "Thanks, man." She said with nonchalance, like it was so random groupie and not Dave-fucking-Grohl. _

_He knocked the door frame one last time and with a quick nod he continued down the hallway towards the back entrance. _

_We stood in silence looking at each other with stunned eyes. Alcide finally broke the silence. "Did Dave Grohl just say he liked our band?" The disbelief in his voice made it sound he wasn't sure if we all just witnessed the same thing. _

_"Fuck yeah he did!" Tara shouted with a smile, jumping into Alcide's arms for a hug. _

_"What is he even doing here?" Sookie sputtered. _

_"The Foo Fighters are playing the Bridgestone tomorrow night." I told her. _

_"Of course you would know that." She rolled her eyes. _

_"We played for Dave Grohl." Bill said with a wild smile on his face, both of his hands in his hair looking like he was on the verge of ripping it out. "If he was here then there is for sure a scout." Bill moved towards Sookie and scooped her up in his arms. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and laughed. _

_"Well, no one has come back here so maybe they are waiting for us at the bar and I could use a drink." She was trying to play it cool but her smile was a wide as his. She was excited and she wouldn't let me share in it with her. _

_After loading up the van we headed back into the club and sat at the bar, the weight of my exhaustion fell upon me in that moment and I felt like a child. I wanted to go home and crawl into my bed and settle for a life as a music teacher. On the other hand I felt like I was teetering right on the edge of my future, I was either going to fall or a bridge was going to be built and I could make it across the chasm that was adulthood unscathed. _

_A bottle of Budweiser being placed in front of me snapped me out of my funk. "These are courtesy of Russell Edgington who is sitting right over there and he would like you to join him for a drink." The bartender recited what no doubt Mr. Edgington had told him to say and we followed his pointed finger to a good looking but somewhat creepy man. I told myself not to judge a book by its cover, if this guy was our ticket to getting a record deal I was willing to put up with creepy. _

_The five of us made our way over to the table and sat down, exchanging pleasantries while doing so._

_"Before we start talking business I just wanted to say how much I loved the set, I love the sound and I really love the look. Has anyone told you how good looking you all are?" Russell asked getting comfortable in his chair as he took a sip of his martini. _

_"All the time!" Alcide exclaimed boisterously. "Except for this ugly fucker." He added pointing at me. _

_"Fuck you." I spat at him with a half laugh. _

_Russell started guffawing at our interaction but the laugh felt fake and I shifted uncomfortably. "And your funny too, the way you all bounce off and interact with each other. I love it. All this from a group of 21 year olds, you are all 21, right?" He asked looking at Sookie who was clearly the baby of the group. _

_"Sure." She said with shifty eyes as she took a swig of her beer. _

_Russell chuckled. "Age is only a number, not to worry." _

_"I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem pushy but which label do you represent?" Bill said leaning toward him. _

_Russell put his hands together like he was praying and bowed to Bill. "Forgive me, I represent Sonnet Indie." _

_Everyone at the table stilled and we tried our hardest to hide our excitement. This wasn't some small time label that was looking to poach us so we could continue to travel in our van, record an EP and then sell maybe 10,000 copies; this was a legit label. _

_Sonnet Indie was the sister label of the massive Nashville based country music label Sonnet Records, home to the likes of Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Toby Keith. The indie side was currently producing records by Moby, Interpol, Lauryn Hill and Beck among countless others. This was the big leagues and it sounded like they wanted us. _

_"I'm going to take your silence as a sign that you've heard of our little record label." Russell teased. _

_"Little?!" Tara choked out with a laugh. "You think we are Sonnet material?" _

_"I think signing your little band here, what are you called again? Sex Station?" He asked. _

_We all mumbled out different names while some of use took a sip of beer. _

_Russell laughed again. "That's not a problem, we can work out a name later. What I'm saying is I think signing you to Sonnet Indie will lead to a very big promotion for me in a years time." He smiled widely but his skin didn't crinkle normally and I shifted again. "You're young, attractive, you understand music, you're talented as hell and have charm and charisma to boot. You're a recruiters wet dream. We are lucky if we find artists with two of those qualities. You five are a miracle." Russell leaned back in his seat. _

_I thought referring to us as a miracle was a little overboard but I looked over at Bill who was beaming, eating up everything Russell was saying. Sookie's cheeks were flushed in embarrassment while Tara and Alcide were glowing with pride and excitement. "So what are the next steps?" Bill questioned. _

_"Well, we would like you to come to New York to meet with the higher ups and because you don't have an EP you'll have to perform for them which I think will play in your favour, you all have a very commanding presence on stage. That's rare." _

_"You want us to come to New York?" Sookie asked in shock. _

_"When?" Bill followed up. _

_"As soon as possible," Russell said standing, tossing his card out to all of us. "If any of you are under 18 you will need a parent or guardian with you. All expenses paid, don't worry." We all sighed out in relief. "Once you talked over this opportunity with your families and after the label decides they like you, you will be signed to Sonnet Indie and begin recording your first record right away." He said with smile. _

_"It's that easy?" I asked. _

_"It's that easy, kid." He winked at me. "You five are going to be big, I can feel it." _

_We couldn't contain our joy anymore and we all started giggling as we took his card and looked it over. "Thank you Mr. Edgington." Bill said standing up to shake his hand. We all followed suit and bestowed thank yous. _

_"Finish your beers, get you ducks in a row and call me. I'll have you on a flight the next day." He picked up his martini and finished it. "Enjoy the rest of your evening kids." He winked a final time and walked out the door. _

_We stood silently together just like we had after Dave Grohl had spoken to us and waited for someone to do anything. _

_"Holy shit, we did it." Bill finally squeaked out in disbelief. He turned to face all of us, wearing the biggest smile I had ever seen on him. "We fucking did it!" He looked up at me and laughed, pulling me into a hug. _

_I heard everyone squeal and cheer as hugs, slaps on the back and even kisses were exchanged between Sookie, Alcide and Tara. _

_Sookie spun to look at me and her smile fell slightly. "Yay!" She said with cautious enthusiasm giving me the weakest hug I had ever received from her. It was worse than her being mad at me, she was interacting with me because she had to, she was keeping face and I hated it. _

_She turned and ran into Bill's outstretched arms wrapping her long legs around his waist, both of their heads falling into the crooks of the others necks. They were saying unintelligible things to one another with smiles on their lips. _

_I didn't like it because for the first time we had started this band Bill was an option for Sookie and while I had seen them be friendly like this with each other before it meant nothing. Now it could mean something._

_What I hated even more was if I wasn't such a fucking idiot she would have been in my arms and I knew that time wasn't going to fully heal the wound I had caused between us. _

_After we calmed down and realized the reality of our situation we finished our beers and headed back to Bon Temps._

* * *

**Review if you have a moment. Thanks for reading.**


	14. But What A Way To Go

**A/N: Thank you to outinritefield1, scorpiolady68, ciasteczko, Perfecta999, MsNorthman, the viking's kittykat, Melody Anderson, Nicolle1977, suzyq59, ashmo2000, shantigal, wheresmyvikingvamp and ljhjelm for reviewing the last chapter. It's very much appreciated. **

**The song they sing is called 'Jackie and Wilson' by Hozier. There is a link to it in my profile. **

**Edited this myself and again it might not be great, I'm just trying to get it out. I hope you some of you like it.**

* * *

My arm was draped over my eyes as my legs quivered and I tried to find my bearings. Eric's hands were running up and down my sides as he kissed my hip bone, my arousal being left there and everywhere else his lips touched me.

"How many was that?" He asked flopping down beside me.

"What?" I turned my head so I could look at him with the eye my arm wasn't covering.

"I made you come seven times." He said so smugly I wanted to smack him. "I think it might be a new record."

"Nope, it was only six." I responded quickly trying to dull his ego.

"I got you once in the shower and then six times in bed." He rolled over and grabbed a joint and lighter from the bedside table. The smell of pot flooded my nostrils moments later. "That's seven."

I huffed and sat up. "Why are you so good at this?" I reached over the side of the bed and grabbed his t-shirt, putting it on and taking the joint as he passed it to me. "I mean every girl I've ever talked to say if they can get off once during sex then its good sex, but with you," I shook my head and rubbed my face after I passed the joint back to him, "the past two weeks have been insane Eric."

He shrugged not at all ashamed that he was naked. "Like I said, I think some people are just naturally good at things. I deal in music and orgasms."

"They should write that on your headstone." I teased.

He laughed and pulled deeply on the joint and passing it back to me "So, am I the best you've ever had?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't do that." I scolded leaning forward to flick him in the nipple.

"Ow," he yelped as his hand went to cover his chest. He stood quickly and bent down to grab the pyjama bottoms he came in wearing. "Sorry, I just thought I'd ask."

"It was an asshole question and you know it." I stood as well, putting out the joint and pulling on my panties. I stared at him and waited to see if he was going to change the subject. He knew he was a better lover than Bill but his male ego wanted to hear me say it. "Well, am I the best you've ever had?" I crossed my arms, challenging him.

"Yes," he said without hesitation, he turned and headed towards the door.

Blood rushed to my cheeks and my whole face went hot. He answered too quick, he was too sure and while a part of me was proud and flattered the other part was uncomfortable. He shouldn't have been so sure. "Where are you going?" I whispered.

"Food, I'm starving." He winked and left my room leaving the door open enough for me to see him run to the kitchen. He ran into one of the kitchen chairs and I tried not to laugh as he began hopping around holding onto his foot as he swore.

I turned and pulled out my songwriting notebook and grabbed my acoustic from the corner of the room, placing both on the bed.

Eric returned swiftly with two bottles of water, Doritos, cheese cubes, cut up sausage and crackers. "Is this okay? I went savoury, if you want sweet, I think there's some chocolate." He strategically closed the door with his foot.

I crawled across the bed and took the bottles of water while sneaking a piece of cheese. "This looks delicious."

"Good, eat as much as you want. I can always get more." He nonchalantly kissed me on the top of my head while his hand began rubbing small circles on my lower back. "What is all this stuff?" He asked motioning to the notebook and guitar.

"I've been looking over all the bits and pieces everyone pitched in and I think there's a song here. This little bit you wrote is amazing." I stuffed the assembled sausage-cheese-cracker he made for me in my mouth. "Is this about someone?" I asked, pieces of food flying out of my mouth.

He shook his head. "Just an idea, the ideal, the dream, I guess."

"We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson/Raise them on rhythm and blues." I smirked up at him reading the lyrics aloud. "Do you want to have kids?" I asked him.

"Maybe, I have to find someone who wants to have kids with me first." He smiled. "Here eat this." He handed me another assembled cracker. I stuffed it in my mouth. "And these." He handed me a few Doritos and a napkin.

"I'm sure it won't be that hard to find someone to procreate with you when the time comes." I wiped my fingers off and accepted the next group of food Eric handed me.

"We'll see." He whispered, his lips pushed up against my hair. "Show me what you've been writing."

I continued to eat as I showed Eric what I had written to go along with his words. I had pieced together the verses of our new song using bits Alcide and Tara had written as I played him chords that I thought would work and he weighed in while I did.

I looked up at him after sometime to see him smiling warmly. "What?" I asked self consciously. I rubbed my mouth with my hand. "Do I have something on my face?"

He shook his head. "No, you just look good, healthy and happy."

I looked around at the remains of all the food we had eaten and I thought about how we had been snacking like this every night. Large portions of snack food that usually followed a lot of sex and a joint. I gasped. "Oh my god, you've been getting me high so I'll want to eat, so I'll gain weight. Haven't you?"

"That's not not what I doing." He gave me his mischievous grin.

"Eric!" I wasn't mad, I needed to gain the weight back but I felt stupid for not realizing what he was doing sooner. I also felt comforted that no matter how much things had changed between us, there were some things that were exactly the same.

"I'm sorry, I got sick of waiting for you to look like you again and to be honest I wanted a little cushion for the pushin'." He shrugged and snagged the last Dorito.

I rolled my eyes and expect something sarcastic and snarky to come out of my mouth but I could only find sentiment. "Thanks, you know, for looking out for me." I felt myself blush, my bangs falling in front of my eyes.

"Always, Legs." He nudged me playfully as he took the guitar and placed it on the floor. "Whether you like it or not you are stuck with me."

I tossed my notebook on the floor and stretched out.

He groaned and moved towards me. "I have to be inside you one more time tonight." He said climbing on top of me kissing my neck.

"Eric, if I orgasm again I'll die." I was already sore and overly sensitive from earlier and all the other nights before.

"But what a way to go though." His hands were skimming the hem of my shirt pushing it upward. "In the event of your death what would you like it to read on your headstone? It's only fair since we've sorted out mine."

I thought on for a few moments before deciding. "How about 'unnecessary but nice' or 'killed by ice cream truck'."

He burst out laughing. "I think that can be arranged." He assured as he pressed his lips to mine and started pulling down my panties.

* * *

A week later Russell arrived.

I woke that morning to an empty bed. This wasn't unusual. Eric was a light sleeper and an early riser, plus it would look suspicious if he came out of my room with me every morning. I got up, brushed my teeth, put on a flowery sundress and went out to get breakfast.

"Morning." I sang, my whole demeanour changing the second I saw our label rep.

Eric saw me first and was hopped up over the couch to greet me. "Look, Russell is here."

"Russell." I beamed in the most fake way possible. "If I knew you were going to be here this morning I would have taken a valium or gotten drunk or something."

"Good she's awake, meeting in the conference room, now. I want to know what you've been up to over the past month." Russell rose and headed to the front of the house without even saying hello.

"Was it something I said?" I looked at Eric mildly annoyed by Russell's snub.

"He doesn't want to give you the bad news." Eric said ushering me along after Russell and my bandmates.

"What bad news?" I asked as Eric ducked down to pick up the new Us Weekly that was sitting on the coffee table.

"Tabloid bad news?" He handed me the magazine after he flipped to the story about us.

"Wasn't the point of the trip not to know any of this stuff?" I asked reading the headline.

"I think he doesn't want us to be shocked when we get back." Eric replied holding the front door open for me.

"Is Perihelion in rehab? Did Sookie Stackhouse put them there?" I looked up at Eric. "What is this nonsense?" I asked flipping through the rest of the magazine.

"They think we are in rehab since we've been AWOL lately and because you looked a little worse for wear-"

I cut him off. "They mean skinny."

"Yes, skinny and they are assuming that's why Bill left the band but mainly you." We stopped in between the house and the studio, in the sweltering heat and I kept my eyes trained on the magazine.

Of course they would blame me, they always blame the woman. I was being blamed for my own heartache, like I drove Bill away and not the other way around. I stared blankly at the words in front of me deciding if I should freak out or not.

"Sook?" Eric placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm five pounds away from my normal weight, we are releasing an album this year, a break-up album, those are always the best. We'll reemerge looking better than ever, tell our side and release the best album since our first. We are winners so let's go win." I trudged forward while continuing to read the magazine. "Ooohhh, Kirsten is going to be in the second season of Fargo."

"Oh nice, that's a good show." Eric said not commenting on anything I had just said but I could feel him hovering, waiting for me to break.

"Yeah, I'm glad she's doing well, I mean, I never liked her but I'm glad she's doing well after her time in rehab." I opened the door of the studio and propped it open with my foot, waiting for Eric to enter. "Is she still with that Garrett guy?" I asked following him in.

Eric shrugged. "I'm not sure. We really haven't talked since we broke up eight years ago."

"Hmmm, I hope so, that guy's handsome." I walked into the conference room and took one of the empty chairs.

"He's not that handsome." Eric mumbled taking the seat next to mine.

"Did you tell her?" Russell asked Eric like I wasn't even in the room.

"You mean, did I do your job for you? Yeah, I did." Eric reached forward and grabbed one of the bottles of water that had been placed in the centre of the table.

Everyone was staring at me like I was about to melt. "I'm fine, we have all been shit on by the tabloids and press before. We survived it then and we'll survive it now." I soothed, taking the bottle as Eric passed it to me.

Russell smiled with delight realizing he wasn't going to have a fight on his hands. "Wonderful!" He rubbed his hands together. "Have you written any songs during your time here?" Russell asked.

"We've written about five." I said picking at a dent in the wood table.

"Can you play them for me?" Russell asked hopefully.

"We can play you some but I'm not sure all of them are ready to go right now." Eric said firmly trying to keep control, trying to be civil.

"Play me what you have. I need to tell the high-ups something. They are getting worried." Russell said fretfully as he stood heading towards the studio. "Also we should call your significant others. I want to see how a laymen responds to the music."

Alcide stood and picked up the phone calling down to the house.

"And I must say Sookie you are looking incredible." Russell complimented while standing following us to the recording studio.

"Yeah, well gaining 20 pounds will do that." I rolled my eyes as I passed Russell and entered the recording space.

"20 pounds?" Russell sounded appalled. "That makes you what? 140? Is that healthy?"

I heard my bandmates make a noise of disgust as his comment. "The last time you saw me I was 95 pounds. That's why the media thinks I'm a drug addict." I slung my guitar over my shoulder.

He stood expressionless in front of me. "Well, are you going to gain anymore weight?"

"Seriously?" I said through gritted teeth.

Before the situation could escalate Jesus pushed passed him. "Oh my god! Are you guys seriously playing new music." His eyes were wide with excitement.

"Yep," Alcide smiled, tuning his bass.

"And I'm going to get to hear it before everyone else."

"That's right!" Tara reassured.

"Because no one has ever heard it before?"

"That's what new means, baby." Lafayette chuckled.

"Do you want me out there or in here?" Jesus questioned.

"Oh, it doesn't matter." I said playing a few chords from our song 'Striptease' as he pushed me out of the way, sitting in the corner of the room. He looked so happy you would have thought he had just won the lottery.

I looked over at LaFayette who could only shrug at me.

"Okay, how many are you playing?" Russell asked from the control room.

Eggs was batting him away as he tried to set levels. "You want me to record it?" He asked.

Eric nodded. "Yeah and we are going to play three." He turned his back to everyone still in our circle formation. "'All These Things I've Done', 'Blood Hands' and the new one, what are we calling it?" He asked looking over at me.

"Jackie and Wilson." I kicked off my sandals and stretched my toes.

"Okay, lets do this." Eric said nodding to Tara who led us into the first song.

We had already preformed the first two songs so many times they were beginning to feel like oldies but by the time we got to our newest song we were a little more unsure.

"Okay, so this one we've never actually preformed all the way through so if it sounds weird that's why." Eric was saying for Russell's benefit.

"You guys ready to 'ooooo and aaahhh'?" I asked tuning my guitar for the final time.

"I was born to 'ooooo and aaahhh'" LaFayette winked at me.

"You know the words, babe or do you need the lyrics?" Alcide handed Eric the sheet of notebook paper we had the lyrics written on.

"I know 'em." Eric took them Alcide and stuff them in his back pocket and looked at Tara who smacked her drumsticks together four times before I began strumming the opening notes of the song.

_So tired trying to see from behind the red in my eyes,/No better version of me I could pretend to be tonight./So deep in this swill with the most familiar of swine/For reasons wretched and divine._

_She blows outta nowhere, roman candle of the wild/Laughing away through my feeble disguise/No other version of me I would rather be tonight./And, Lord, she found me just in time_

The song felt good, a bit like back to basics. It had a country root but a rough rock polish and our vocals were on point. I would never, ever, not ever get sick of the feeling I was feeling at that moment, the feeling of creating something great. Something that wouldn't just be important to us but, hopefully, to others as well.

_'Cause with my mid-youth crisis all said and done/I need to be youthfully felt 'cause, God, I never felt young_

I stepped up to the microphone to support Eric during the chorus watching him as he flashed me a movie star grin. Everyone else leaned forward getting ready to support us both.

_She's gonna save me,/Call me "baby"/Run her hands through my hair/She'll know me crazy,/Soothe me daily/Better yet she wouldn't care/We'll steal her Lexus,/Be detectives, Ride 'round picking up clues/We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson,/Raise 'em on rhythm and blues._

_Lord, it'd be great to find a place we could escape sometime/Me and my Isis growing black irises in the sunshine/Every version of me dead and buried in the yard outside./Sit back and watch the world go by._

Eric looked good as a leading man, after four weeks in this place he was truly finding his rhythm. He was handsome, strong, commanding and most of all talented.

_Happy to lie back watch it burn and rust/We tried the world, good God, it wasn't for us._

_She's gonna save me,/Call me "baby"/Run her hands through my hair/She'll know me crazy,/Soothe me daily/Better yet she wouldn't care/We'll steal her Lexus,/Be detectives, Ride 'round picking up clues/We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson,/Raise 'em on rhythm and blues._

_Cut clean from the dream at night let my mind reset/Looking up from a cigarette, and she's already left/I start digging up the yard for what's left of me and our little vignette/For whatever poor soul is coming next_

Eric's presence was starting to effect me physically now. I wanted him and now that I knew what it was like to have him the ache I had in the pit of my stomach was bad. I wanted to be the one who ran my hands through his hair.

_She's gonna save me,/Call me "baby"/Run her hands through my hair/She'll know me crazy,/Soothe me daily/Better yet she wouldn't care/We'll steal her Lexus,/Be detectives, Ride 'round picking up clues/We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson,/Raise 'em on rhythm and blues._

The notes died away and we all turned to face Russell. "So?" I asked resting my hands on the neck of my guitar.

"It's good. Really good, the label will be pleased. You just need to write more and faster." He stood.

"Don't rush us or you'll get crap." Eric warned.

"You guys don't write crap." Russell praised. "Even your shittiest album is better than 95% of the stuff being pumped out there. I know we have our differences but I scouted you for a reason all those years ago. I saw something in you then and I still see it now."

We were silent as we shifted uncomfortably. Russell never talked to us like that and none of us knew how to react to his kindness. "Thanks Russ, that's a really nice thing to say." Alcide finally said.

"Yes, well." He rubbed his hands together again. "I'm assuming you all want to leave the island by now? Go into Rio perhaps?"

"Yeah that sounds great!" We all said in unison.

"Great, how about Friday night?"

"That's the night before most of us are going home so it sounds perfect." Debbie piped up beside him.

"Luna and I will probably sit this one out if it's all right." Sam told us.

"Yeah, man. Whatever you guys want." Eric took a step closer to me and put his hands on hips exposing the deep V indentation at his hips. I took a deep breath and could smell him, all musk and soap and sweat. I felt arousal pool between my legs.

I was silent all the way back to the house trying to think of a way to get Eric alone that wouldn't raise suspicion. Every option was a dud and I just ended up excusing myself to take a shower in hopes of pleasuring myself or at the very least cooling off.

Not long after the spray of the water began cascading down my body I felt hands glide over my stomach. "Wanting it during the day is not an easy task, Sook." Eric whispered into my ear, his front to my back, his erection pressed against my ass.

I jumped slightly but managed to keep a scream from emerging. "Eric!" I scolded. "You scared the shit out of me." I tried to smack him but my arms couldn't reach around like I wanted them to.

"Sorry, I just figured you wanted sex and you going to have a shower was code." His hands ran up over my breasts as he kissed my neck.

"It was code, sorta, I just didn't think you'd be able to sneak away and get in here." I spun in his arms to look at him. "How did you get in here?" I asked running my hands over his chest.

"I said I was going for a run and then went in through your bay doors." He stuttered slightly over his last word when I wrapped my fingers around his length.

"How did you know I wanted sex? I mean I could have just needed a shower." I pumped him in my hand slowly.

He rested his forehead on mine. "You had a shower this morning, so you were already clean, you kept biting you lip while looking at me and crossing your legs together, you also went silent after our playing really well together. I figured either something was wrong or you were horny and cause of all the leg crossing and lip biting, I guessed horny." He shuttered as I increased my pace.

"What are you fucking Sherlock Holmes?" I joked while pushing him forward towards the back of the shower.

"I know you Sook. You're an open book to me." The back of his knees hit the marble bench and he wobbled before sitting down.

I straddled him. "Oh yeah, what am I thinking now?" I teased lining myself up with his length.

"Right now, not a clue." He breathed out as I lowered myself onto him.

* * *

We spent the rest of the week sorting out the arrangement for the two other songs we had written and spent time writing a new one.

All the significant others were packed and ready to leave but were excited to go to the club Russell had recommended. He had flown back to New York the day after he came to see us stating that he had all the information he needed and he didn't need to supervise us. He had also given us the name of his contact on the mainland so we could arrange any outings we wanted from there on out.

We would only ever arrange one.

I woke on Friday morning to the clattering of pans, the chit-chattering of my friends and the pulsing of music. I threw on some shorts and a tank top and headed to the kitchen.

Every single person in the house was either, frying, chopping or helping set the table. Eric was buttering pieces of bread, while Tara and Eggs were making bacon and eggs. Debbie was icing cinnamon buns and Jesus and Lafayette stood in front of the iPod speaker deciding what to play after the current song had finished. Sam and Luna were arguing about which side of the plate the fork went on.

"I'm telling you it's the right." Said Sam as if there was no way he could be wrong.

"I had Ms. Manners training when I was a teenager. It's the left." Luna said switching all the forks and knives Sam had laid. She smiled when she saw me. "Sook, does the fork go on the left or right?" She asked.

"Sorry Sam, it's the left." My mouth skewed in an apologetic smile.

"Damn." He groaned.

Luna started giggling.

"What is all this?" I asked.

"It's the last day on the island for everyone but you and members of the band, we figured we make the last day count." Sam smiled the same warm Sam smile he always had.

"Awe, that's so sweet. It smells delicious too." I said walking over to Eric sitting down on the stool beside him. "Why didn't anyone wake me up? I would have helped."

"We wanted to let you sleep and you will help, you get to clean up." He bopped me lightly on the nose with a grin.

My nose scrunched in disappointment. "I hate cleaning up." I muttered just as the opening notes of 'Uptown Funk' started to play.

"Holy shit, I am obsessed with this song." Debbie shouted in delight moving away from the cinnamon buns beginning to dance.

"Have you seen the music video?" I asked Eric.

He nodded as he started to move his body to the beat.

"They do this thing where they move their bodies in time with the song and it looks so simple but I can absolutely not do it." I got up to try and show him but failed miserably.

"You mean this?" He asked as he moved his body exactly how they did in the video, not missing a step.

"How did you do that?" I asked trying to copy him and still not succeeding.

He laughed. "Sook, I told you, I know how to dance." He was moving to the song a little more aggressively, as was everyone else.

"Bruno Mars literally cannot release a dud." Alcide said with a hint of jealously in his voice.

"Technically this is Mark Ronson and it's a rip off of a bunch of different funk songs but everything is a rip off of everything else so, whatever." Tara chimed in with shrug.

"Not a fan, Tara?" LaFayette asked.

"Apparently I am the only one." Tara looked around the room as all of us were dancing, some well, some not so well.

Eric was still trying to teach me the dance moves but it was all in vain. "How are so terrible at this? I've seen you dance before."

"My body just won't move that way." I said with some mild frustration.

He moved behind me so his chest was to my back. "I've seen your body move in all types of ways." He whispered seductively, wrapping his arm around my front.

"Not the place," I scolded in jest, letting my head fall back and rest on his shoulder.

We finished the song all laughing and dancing together enjoying a stableness that had been building but finally plateaued, reaching our new normal.

A normal that didn't last long.

The song changed to the newest Rhianna single and we all separated to bring the food to the table. Just as I placed the buttered toast down a familiar voice rang out behind me. A voice that had whispered to me in the dark, a voice that had pushed me to be better, a voice I had trusted. It was a voice that now made my blood simultaneously boil and run cold.

Bill.

"I could be wrong but it seems like none of you missed me at all." He smiled smugly pushing his sunglasses up on his head. He looked good, better than he had in some time. He was wearing a white linen button down and lose fitting light wash jeans.

None of us moved except for Eric who was slowly moving towards me. I stared at Bill, my breathing becoming shallow, my cheeks were flushed and my hands balled into fists.

Bill looked around at all of us like our reaction to him being there was nuts, like he had't just appeared after disappearing for six months. "What's wrong with you guys? It looks like you've seen a ghost." He dropped his bag on the floor.

The sound of his bag hitting the marble floor snapped me out of my daze and before I knew it I was heading towards him and my vision went red.

* * *

**The Kirsten Eric and Sookie are talking about is Kirsten Dunst. **

**Please review if you have a moment and thank you for reading. **


	15. Perihelion

**A/N: This chapter might seem a little scattered. I want to give you the basics of what happened to them without getting into to much detail unless it has to do with Sookie and Eric's relationship. **

**Also I can't say this enough, I have zero clue how the music industry actually works so all of what happens in this chapter is probably wrong. **

**I also edited this myself which is why most of it doesn't make sense. **

**I've also linked Just and Ship of Fools on my profile. They don't sing them in this chapter but they are talked about a lot. **

**Thank you so much to B-rock525, Suzymeinen, MagpieTales, ashmo2000, MelodyAnderson, LostInSpace33, ljhjelm49, covenmama, ciasteczko, Nicolle1977, suzyq59, scorpiolady68, Queen Diamond, MsNorthman, lajayden1973 and the guest who reviewed the last chapter. **

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_August 21, 2003 - December 4, 2004 _

_Bill couldn't stress to Sookie and Tara enough that when they got home the most important thing they had to do was convince their parents and guardians that they had to accompany them to New York. Bill made it very clear that if neither of them could come then they would be replaced. This prompted Sookie to laugh hysterically telling Bill there was no way he could find anyone as half as good as her and Tara and to shut his mouth. _

_As it turned out Tara's mother agreed instantly for a free trip to New York and Adele agreed as long as Russell could send her something that outlined his intent. _

_A week later we were staying in a plush, impeccably designed penthouse sweet of some swanky hotel I had never heard of. New York was like being in another world and I felt like I was dreaming most of the time I was there. There was no way this was my life now, there was no way I was a step away from having a career in music. _

_We had been there for a week before we performed for the executives who would decide if we were marketable enough. Russell had spent a lot of time moulding us, changing our clothes, hair and making sure Tara's and Sookie's make-up made them look older than they were. _

_The performances went well even though we were all more nervous because of the intimateness of the space and what was at stake if we failed. _

_Two days later a basic contract was drawn up and reviewed at length. Adele even used some of her savings to hire the best contract lawyer she could find. She explained to us that we could pay her back later after our first paycheques came in. _

_We were told the contract was pretty solid and entirely contingent on how well we did. We would sign on for two albums and two tours. During the first tour we would be an opening act for a bigger band with a possibility to co-headline if we did well enough and while we would be paid for recording the album most of our money would come out of the tour. We would get more from the second album and second tour depending if our first tour and album was successful. _

_"So basically, if we want to get paid we have to make sure people like us?" Bill asked looking at the slender, well-dressed lawyer. _

_"Basically," he looked around at all of us, "but you're a good looking group of kids, that's all it really takes nowadays." He handed the contract back to us and stood. "Good luck, I'll keep an ear out for you on the radio, what is your band name?" _

_We muttered a bunch of different names still not sure what we were calling ourselves. _

_He nodded slowly not sure how to proceed. "Well, I'll keep a look out, good afternoon." He left hastily and we all reviewed the contract one more time. _

_Three days later we signed the contract and were officially the newest artists of the Sonnet Indie family. _

_The label moved us into a large three bedroom apartment until we could find housing of our own. Sookie and Tara shared a room together and after drawing the long straw, Bill got his own room leaving me to bunk with Alcide. _

_A week later we were in the studio and a two and a half months after that the album was almost complete. _

_"The higher-ups think there needs to be the golden single. The break-out. The song that will grab the attention of everyone who hears it enough so they'll give your second single a try." Russell said sitting on the couch in our apartment. "Does anything have anything?" _

_"What kind of sound are they looking for?" Bill asked balancing a can of coke on his stomach. _

_"Punch you in the gut rock." Russell said with a shrug. _

_"What does that even mean?" I asked. "Like heavy metal?"_

_"I don't know, I don't think they know what they want. I'm sure you could go with anything, they'd re-organize the album and make something you've already recorded the single." Russell picked a piece of lint from his suit. _

_"We don't want to 'just go with anything', this is our first album. I don't know about you guys but I just don't want to put anything on there." Alcide stated. _

_"I have something." Sookie said quietly. "It might not be what you're looking for but I guess if no one has anything else." She stood and moved across the room to her bag, pulling out her notebook. She ripped out a page and put it on the coffee table. _

_We all moved towards it and began scanning the lyrics and discussing the music she had written to go with it. My heart dropped when I read over it getting the feeling that the song could, in part, be about me. _

_"Play it." Bill said leaning back in the couch. _

_Sookie grabbed an electric guitar and plugged it in, beginning to play her way through the song, explaining how she heard the other parts in her head, singing how she thought the words should be sung. _

You do it to yourself, you do/And that's what really hurts/Is you do it to yourself, just you/You and no-one else/You do it to yourself

_It was scattered and aggressive and sad. A bizarre heartbreak song that only Sookie could write. _

_Thirty minutes later we were at the studio and three hours later it was recorded. _

_"Does it always happen that fast" I asked Russell once we were done. _

_"That's what she said!" Alcide snapped in delight, pointing at me as he giggled. _

_I focused my attention back on Russell with an eye roll as he began to speak. "I've seen albums recorded in three days and others in three years. It depends on the person or band and it gives no indication of performance either. You either have or you don't, time has nothing to do with it." _

_Russell left and we all headed back home waiting to hear what the next steps were. I was dying to get Sookie alone to ask her about the song we had titled 'Just'. I found my moment a couple nights later when she was smoking on our balcony. _

_She didn't turn to see who was approaching her, she just continued to smoke and only when I leaned over the railing beside her did she look over at me. We were silent for some time, both smoking cigarettes looking out over the foreign city. "It's so loud here." She broke the silence. _

_"Do you not like it?" I asked her. _

_"I like the city fine it's just hard to be inside your own head when there is so much going on everywhere." She put the cigarette out in the ashtray beside her. _

_"Sook, who is 'Just' about?" I asked, too impatient to wait any longer. _

_"My brother," She answered quickly not looking at me. "He had this whole future ahead of him, he could have gone to college on scholarship but instead he decided that drinking beer and a shitty construction job was the way to go." _

_"Maybe that's the life he wants." I suggested feeling my cheeks flame in embarrassment, I was so sure it was about me and I was thankful for the darkness to hide my red face. _

_She shook her head. "He talks about how he could have been a great football star all the time but he decided to throw it away, hence the lyric, you do it to yourself." She paused for a moment to take a sip of the beer I didn't realize she had. "I didn't finish it, it sat with all the other unfinished songs I have until I caught you with Jessica." _

_"So it is about me?" _

_"In part." She sighed deeply and turned to face me. "Eric, you hurt me and I needed to get it out." _

_I nodded and rubbed my face. "I'm still so sorry about that, it was so stupid. I wasn't thinking." _

_"No, you weren't." She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, the beer bottle bumping up against her arm. "But I can't be mad at you anymore. I'm exhausted and I hate hating you so this is me telling you I don't anymore." She moved towards me wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me tightly. _

_I hugged her back, breathing her in and relaxing around her for the first time in a long time. We separated slightly and I went in to kiss her but before our lips touched she stopped me. "Eric, I think you misunderstood what I'm saying, I forgive you but I can't forget. I don't trust you and there is no way we can be together without that. I'm have so many trust issues, the people I love most always disappoint me and it is going to take me awhile to build that kind of trust back up again." _

_I took a step away from her and nodded. _

_"Ask me out in a year, maybe I'll fine by then." She smiled with a joking kind of laugh as she tried desperately to easy the tension. We stood in silence again trying to find a way to make something feel normal or at least our new normal. "So, how you been?" She sat down on one of the chairs that littered our balcony._

_I couldn't help but laugh. "I've been okay, I'm going to be a rockstar apparently." I took a seat. _

_"Really?" She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. "I can't really see it." _

_"Fuck off." I teased bumming a smoke off of her. Then we talked about everything that I wanted to say to her since we stopped speaking. It reminded me that even though I blew my chance to be with her, I missed her company as a friend even more. I was so happy to be able to talk to her and I had no problem waiting the year and earning her trust again. _

_Three weeks later we told we would be going on tour with The White Stripes and Interpol once the album had dropped. It was slatted to be released on March 9, 2004 with 'Just' being our first single._

_"Now all you need is a name!" Russell exclaimed as we sat in of the boardrooms at Sonnet Indie headquarters. "Well, you need to name your album and choose artwork and we need to find you a manager." He rambled. _

_"So there are lots of things we have left to do?" Bill cocked an eyebrow. _

_"Does anyone have any ideas?" Russell asked ignoring Bill. _

_"I'm going with Tara and the Giants." Tara said crossing her arms firmly over her chest like she already knew what the answer would be. _

_"No." Russell shut her down. "Next!" _

_"International Sex Station," Sookie suggested. _

_"Nope." _

_"Have you guys heard of Wikipedia?" Alcide asked._

_"That's a strange name for a band." Russell made a face like he smelled something rotten. _

_Alcide sighed and closed his eyes for a second to gather himself. "No, the website Wikipedia. I was talking to a few other bands when we were on tour last summer and they said they went to Wikipedia and clicked the random article button and then whatever came up is what they named their band." _

_We all looked at each other already knowing we were going to try it. _

_"What do we have left to lose?" Bill said looking at Russell who left and returned with a laptop._

_Once everything was set up Bill typed in the website and we waited for the page to load with bated breath. "It's weird that we about to choose the name that is going to stick, we've had so many." I said through my giddiness._

_"We can always change it later if want. Pull a Prince." Sookie grinned at me. _

_"I would strongly advise against that." Russell warned. "So many legal fees." _

_"And Prince did that as a huge fuck you to his record label." Tara piped up. _

_"Okay, so I just hit the random page button and the first page that comes up is our band name?" Bill asked scanning the screen. _

_"Yeah, it's right," Alcide moved his finger over the screen till he landed on it, "there." _

_Bill clicked and we waited to see what would appear. _

_"Tannois." Bill said. I could tell by his tone that he hated it. _

_"It's a commune in North-Eastern France." Tara read. "Hmmm, the more you know." _

_"Let's just go again." Bill clicked the button again. "Josip Broz Tito High School, no," he clicked again. "Mode Field Diameter, Eyeish, Breakfast with Les and Bess, Runway Overrun Prevention System." He rambled off the names of the articles as they came up. _

_"Oooohhhh, I like that last one." Sookie sounded hopeful. _

_"No," Bill turned to look at Alcide. "This is stupid." _

_"Try it one more time and if we don't like it we'll just put two words together." Alcide encouraged. _

_"Fine." Bill said in a huff hitting the button for the final time. _

_We all stared at the word trying to figure out how to pronounce it. "Pear-e-hell-ion" Tara said cautiously. _

_"I think it's 'Pear-a-heal-ion'" said Sookie skimming through the article. "The point in orbit of a celestial body where it is nearest to its orbital focus, generally a star." She stood back up. "I like the idea of a band name that suggests we are flying too close to the sun." _

_"I don't hate it." Bill said staring at the computer. "Aphelion is its opposite, when it's farthest from the sun. That could be the album title. Aphelion." _

_"Holy shit, are we all agreeing on this?" Tara asked incredulously._

_"I think we are." I confirmed. _

_"Perihelion," Sookie said it again. _

_"Welcome to the stage, Perihelion!" Alcide boomed in his best announcer voice. _

_"We're a band, not strippers." Bill rolled his eyes as he went to retrieve a pen. _

_Alcide shrugged. "Same diff and I've preformed without a shirt before so..."_

_I laughed and let a relieved breath. We had a name, now all we needed was a manager. _

_Two weeks later we got one. "This is Sam Merlotte." Russell said pointing at the shaggy haired man at the end of the table. _

_"Yeah, you were twenty minutes late, we've already made introductions." Sookie glared at Russell. _

_"So what were you saying about Jack White?" Bill encouraged. _

_"He loves the album, I love the album, pretty much every person who's heard it loves it." Sam grinned._

_We all smiled at each other, squirming with pride. _

_"So, what's next?" I asked. _

_"Music videos." Sam pulled out a piece of paper and went over how we would start next week and shoot something for 'Just'. "We want it out a few weeks before the album release. We'll release the 'Ship of Fools' video with the actual album release and 'Instant Pleasure' will come out a month after. We want to saturate the radio and MTV with you guys and we want your faces everywhere." _

_"Sounds awesome." Alcide beamed grabbing a water which were sitting on a tray in the middle of the table. _

_"So, those are the singles?" Bill asked tapping his index finger on the table. _

_"For now, more may be added if you do well." Sam flipped through his papers. "We've also set up numbers of interviews for you to do with local radio stations, papers and magazines as well as some national ones while you are on tour." Sam took a deep breath in. "Do you guys think you can handle that?" _

_We nodded and got to it. A week later we were shooting our first music video trying to figure out how to "look good" as the director put it, while we played our instruments and acted along with the Twilight Zone plot of the video. Two weeks after that we shot the second video which was far more complicated to shoot than the first as it dealt with many ship props, water and choreography which some of us were better at than others. A week before the 'Just' video was set premiere we shot our third video. _

_Seeing myself on TV was strange and disconnecting. I could understand immediately why some stars changed so much when they became famous. I was the person on the screen but I wasn't, there was a grunge polish on me and I looked like the fantasy of what every pop rock teenage girl would want me to look like. I wanted to be that guy, not the dude in the worn out Pink Floyd t-shirt and 15 dollar jeans which I had on when I watched the video. _

_It was also exhilarating to hear ourselves on the radio which started to happen more and more frequently. The single did well, better than expected. Russell chalked up it up to the video and the fact that either people wanted to fuck us or be us. _

_"So it has nothing to do with the music then?" Sookie asked annoyed. _

_"It doesn't matter why people are listening to the music, if your looks get them there and the albums are bought you get to keep making the music." Russell dismissed her. _

_We were given lessons on how to give a good interview, how to handle a stupid or offensive question, how to handle fans, how to pose for fan photos and how to handle the paparazzi. _

_We took one final trip back home to Bon Temps just after the album was released and just before we went on tour in April. The album was incredibly well reviewed and would eventually go on to be number one on many top albums of the year lists. _

_The second single 'Ship of Fools' was an even bigger hit than 'Just' and to correlate with the release of 'Instant Pleasure' we played Saturday Night Live. _

_A month later we were pulled off the tour with The White Stripes and given our own, Franz Ferdinand would open, and a week after that our album hit number one. We weren't big enough to play arena's but we were playing 2,000 to 3,000 seat venues two to three nights in a row depending on demand. If we were lucky we would have a night off in between cities but there were times we were playing a show every night of the week. _

_Fame come like a sack full of bricks and hit us all differently. Bill loved it and all the attention he received. Alcide thought it was fun but equally annoying, he hated losing privacy. Tara and Sookie found it difficult being women and torn apart about everything they did, wore and said and I found it jarring. It made me feel strange that people I had never met knew so much about me. Women threw themselves at me all the time and none of them respected personal boundaries. I liked signing autographs and taking photos with the civil fans but for the most part people were not civil and treated you like things rather than people. _

_The money was nice and the better we did the more money came in. Ironically the more money we made the more things we got for free. New clothes, electronics, alcohol, expensive jewelry and watches, food and bizarre odds and ends. Sookie and Tara were sent gold plated vibrators._

_One day in late November while we were touring around the Northern States I sat down with Sookie on our tour bus to ask her a question I had been waiting to ask her for a year. _

_"Man, I am so exhausted but like in a good way. I can't wait for Christmas, I need time off." Sookie said thumbing through a copy of Rolling Stone magazine. Like all of us she looked polished all the time. Her hair was always shiny and her skin was smooth and silky looking. We were always receiving beauty treatments routinely to make sure we looked our best. _

_"I'm with you on that one." I said scratching my head. "Are you going back to Bon Temps for Christmas?" I asked her. _

_She nodded. "Yeah, Gran is really excited to make dinner for her rockstar." She looked up at me. "She keeps magazine clippings of everything we do and every time we are on TV, she tapes it. She keeps a copy of the album in her purse and literally shows it to anyone who will listen." _

_I laughed. "My mom is doing the same thing she's just a little more low key about it." _

_"You're going to Bon Temps for Christmas too?" She asked. _

_"Yeah and if I'm going to be there and you are going to be there then maybe we can go to dinner or something." My cheeks flushed. _

_She stared at me blankly until a look of understanding passed over her face and her cheeks flushed just as red as mine. "Oh," she closed the magazine and started playing with her hair, "you mean like a date?" _

_I nodded. "Yeah, like a date." _

_"Uh, I'm sort of seeing someone." She looked up at me through her lashes. _

_Her statement hit me like a baseball bat to the chest. I hadn't seen her with anyone and up until that moment I thought she still had feelings for me. I thought that after I had built up her trust she would agree to go out with me. I never saw it coming. "With who?" Was all I could think of to say. _

_"Um, Alex actually." She raised an eyebrow waiting for me to react. "The lead singer from Franz-"_

_"Yeah, I know who you're talking about." I cut her off. "Isn't he like 15 years older than you?" I was trying to keep my cool but it wasn't working. _

_"We don't want to bring too much attention to it and we don't want too many people to know until we decide if we want to stay together or if we want this to be just a fling." She was tearing the cover of the magazine as she spoke. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just, you are one of my best friends, maybe the best one I have and I love you but all the romantic feelings I had for you are gone." _

_I nodded swallowing hard. "No, it's okay." I smiled. "I just wish you could have told me. He's like your first boyfriend, right?" And that was the first sentence in a long line of sentences that expressed support and understanding as I suffered silently, wishing it was me she was talking about so warmly; she was practically glowing. _

_"Yeah and he's amazing. I never thought he would be but when you get him alone he's so caring and thoughtful and sensitive. I feel so wanted and beautiful when I'm with him." She rubbed her face bashfully. _

_"It sounds like it's a little more than a fling for you." I was trying to keep my breathing steady. _

_"Yeah, well, I mean it's still pretty new, only 3 months and I don't want to scare him off." _

_We sat in silence for a moment while I took everything in and tried to think of something to say. _

_Alcide saved me, throwing down a deck of cards and a crib board. "You guys wanna play?" _

_"Yeah," I muttered. _

_Sookie nodded. _

_Alcide looked between us with a cocked eyebrow. "What's up with you two? Did someone die?" _

_"Just deal the cards, man." I barked, thankful he was there and I no longer had to hear about Sookie's new boyfriend. _

_Later than night after playing a show in Minneapolis, I watched Sookie as she talked to Alex and the rest of his band. She laughed at everything he said casually and playfully smacked his arm. "Stupid, Scottish bastard," I grumbled to myself drinking half of my beer at once. _

_"You look glum." Bill said sitting down beside me smacking me on the chest. _

_I shook my head. "Naw, just tired." We sat together and watched everyone around as we drank in the hotel bar. "What do you think of Alex?" I asked Bill who was looking at his phone. We all had one now but Bill was the only one glued to his. _

_Bill looked over to Sookie and Alex who had been joined by Alcide and Tara. "He's fine." _

_"Do you think him and Sookie are together?" I inquired._

_Bill chuckled. "No, he is not her type." _

_"You know what her type is?" I angled myself towards him. _

_He stared at me for a few moments as he decided what he wanted to say. "Not really but she needs someone more caring, that guy only cares about himself. If they are together, it won't last." _

_"How do you know?" _

_"You aren't the only person that knows anything about her." He winked at me and ran over to her and Alex. She looked up and smiled at him, she had a look in her eyes that I hadn't seen since the night she left my place after we kissed for the first time. _

_I started to try to get over Sookie but it wasn't successful, I felt my stomach turn when I saw her or Alex, or even Bill for that matter, something just felt off about him. _

_On December 4th, 2004 that feeling finally made sense. I was awoken early morning to banging on my hotel door and yelling. I stumbled to my door and the second it was opened I had arms and legs wrapped around me and I was pushed back into the wall behind me._

_"Eight! Eight! We got eight!" Sookie screamed in my ear. She was in a long t-shirt and panties and I relished in the feeling of her skin on my shirtless torso. _

_"What are you saying?" I asked looking up at her. She had tears in her eyes and the largest smile on her face. _

_"Eight Grammy's, nominations," she stuttered and she put her feet on the ground and she started screaming and jumping up and down. _

_"Wait, what? We got eight Grammy nominations?" I asked putting my hands on her shoulders trying to steady her. _

_She nodded furiously and started jumping and screaming again heading out to the hallway where Alcide, Tara and Bill already were yelling and dancing with the people we had woken up on our floor. I hugged both Tara and Alcide as we jumped and danced and chanted 'eight' together over and over again. _

_I looked up to go embrace Bill, the only one of my bandmates I hadn't celebrated with but he was already celebrating with Sookie. His arms were around her waist and his lips were firmly against hers, her fingers threaded through his hair. _

_I felt the blood drain out of my face, I felt like I couldn't hear properly and I had tunnel vision. This should be the best day of my life but instead I felt like being sick. _

_The first thing I felt was confusion because I believed she was with Alex and here she was with Bill and then it hit me, she lied. Of course she wouldn't tell me about Bill, this could ruin our band and while she and Bill sorted everything out, if they were something that was going to last longer than a month, they wanted to keep it quiet. The lie about Alex allowed her to talk about it but keep it a secret at the same time. _

_The second emotion was anger that she had lied, that Bill had lied. They might have known how I felt but even if they didn't they were my friends and I wasn't trusted. I felt so rejected I wanted to punch him and scream at her. _

_Finally, I was sad. Alex was one thing, he was an outsider. When our tour ended he would be gone and it would be easier for their relationship to fall apart but Bill was different, he was a staple, an anchor, a constant in all our lives. I knew how much this band meant to him and if he was willing to put it all on the line to date Sookie then he cared about her, a lot, and I knew that this was something serious. _

_I turned back to Alcide and Tara who were both looking past me to Bill and Sookie. "Well, that's new." Alcide commented with a surprised look on his face. _

_"Yeah, yeah it is." I forced a smile and pulled them in for a hug trying to enjoy the feeling of being a Grammy nominee as much as I could._

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**So that's it, I'm sorry if their past is boring for you guys but I like the back and forth. **

**Please review if you can and thank you for reading. **


	16. I Told You So

**A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a very Happy New Year.**

**Thank you to Tynee23, outinritefield1, ciasteczko, Perfecta999, ljhjelm49. Suzymeinen, ashmo2000, LostInSpace33, Nicolle1977, MsNorthman, coven mama, suzyq59, Guest and Shantigal for your wonderful reviews. **

**Thank you for putting up with the backstory. I am happy to say there are only 5 more. There are a few I would like to write about to make the characters a little more full. I'm guessing this story is going to be between 30-35 chapters. **

**Also I passed 200 reviews and I can't thank you all enough for your support and putting up with my incredibly sporadic posting.**

**I edited this myself so I'm sorry if it's shit. **

**I hope this was worth the wait.**

* * *

Not even the pain travelling down my arm after punching Bill could distract me from the rage that ran through me. "You stupid motherfucker!" I shouted at him as Alcide wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me away from Bill. Alcide's grip was like a vice as I kicked my legs in Bill's direction, shouting abuse at him. "You're such a selfish bastard!"

Bill didn't expect me to hit him and when I busted his nose he fell to the ground. He was propped up on one elbow looking at his bloodied fingers as he pulled them from his nose.

"Are you all right?" Eric asked walking towards Bill extending his arm to help him up.

Bill took his hand and stood. "Yeah, I'm fine." He confirmed, still wiping his face.

"Good," Eric snarled, punching Bill himself. "How dare you show up here like this as if nothing happened!" Eric shook out his hand and did his best to hide the pain that flitted across his face.

Bill stumbled backwards but didn't fall over, it was almost as if he expected Eric to hit him and then Bill lunged at him.

"Shit!" Alcide muttered as he released me. "Eggs!" He shouted and Eggs came running from where he was standing.

Before I could advance Tara's hand grasped my wrist. "Nope, you are staying right here." She yanked me down onto the couch.

Alcide put himself in between the two fighting men and Eggs pulled Eric away. Eric stopped struggling instantly and stepped away from Eggs, raising his hands in the air like he was surrendering.

Bill, on the other hand, kept fighting against Alcide.

"Bill!" Alcide shouted.

Bill's attention fell on Alcide for the first time and he swung at him connecting with his jaw. I saw a flash of anger pass over Alcide's face and his arm pulled back, the next thing I knew Bill was on the ground holding his face, blood all over his teeth.

A beautiful face that had never been broken.

"You do that again, I'll make sure you don't get up." Alcide threatened walking towards the kitchen mumbling. "Just wanted to make breakfast for my wife and friends but nope..."

I looked over at Bill who pulled himself up and went to sit down on the couch farthest from me and Eric, who had taken a seat beside me.

"Hey Luna, Deb, Eggs and Jesus, I'm sorry but do you think you guys could head out to the pool or go upstairs while we have a band meeting?" Sam asked with a smile.

They all nodded and headed outdoors. I figured they did this so they could still see what was going on.

"Shouldn't that one leave too?" Bill gestured to LaFayette. "He isn't in the band."

"Well, thanks to you, now he is so shut up." Sam barked at him.

All the anger that everyone had been expertly hiding over the past few weeks was bubbling to the surface and it wasn't going to be pretty.

Alcide joined us handing a damp cloth and bandages to Tara and a dish cloth filled with ice to Eric, he kept one for himself and chucked one at Bill. "That's for your face we fucked up."

Bill glared at him venomously and then looked back at me.

I winced when Tara started to clean blood off of my hand. "How did I cut my hand?" I asked almost dazed as she put bandaids over my two split knuckles.

"I don't think you realize how hard you hit him, Sook." Tara said with a smirk as she tossed the bloodied cloth onto the table.

I looked back up at Bill and we sat in silence until Sam had the sense to speak. "So Bill, where've you been?" He asked.

Bill wiped the dry end of the cloth against his nose clearing some of the blood off of his face. "I needed time to re-evaluate things. Some alone time."

"Oh and you couldn't fucking tell us where you were going? We were fucking worried about you! You just disappeared without a trace! We are your business partners, your band members and up until recently your friends!" Eric shouted, his accent coming out. All of ours were in our anger.

"Your partner, your lover." I added with a whisper.

Bill opened and closed his mouth a few times. "I don't know. I don't know what to say. It is what it is." He shrugged.

"Do you even want back in the band?" Tara asked.

Bill shook his head. "I'm going to go solo. It's time."

"Why are you even here then?" LaFayette found the courage to ask.

"How did you even know we were here?" Alcide furthered.

"Russell told me."

"A fucking walking void, he is." I spat through gritted teeth.

"I bet you he told the tabloids we'd be here too." Eric said in frustration. "He told you what club we were going to tonight didn't he?" Eric asked.

Bill nodded.

"You weren't supposed to come here were you? You were supposed to meet us at the club and cause a scene."

Bill nodded.

"But you didn't listen."

"I never do." Bill mumbled looking at his hands. His hair was flopping in front of his face and he looked so young in that moment, like the boy I fell in love with, not the arrogant rock god he had become.

"Russell is fucking out. Sam, please arrange that." Tara said and he gave her a curt nod.

"So that's all you have to say for yourself? It is what it is?" I questioned him, trying to keep my voice steady. "Did you even stop to think about any of us?"

"I never do." He said again with a raise or an eyebrow.

"You're such an asshole! I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out." My hands were trembling. "Why even come here if you had nothing to say for yourself?"

"He wanted to cause trouble, it's been months since something was about him. He craves this drama and we gave it to him." Eric shook his head.

Bill looked at Eric and cocked his head. "You look mighty relaxed Eric, more relaxed than I've seen you in years. I would go even as far as to say you're actually happy. Any reason for that?" Bill gave Eric a nasty smile and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Eric said nothing as he stared daggers at his former best friend.

"Why the fuck are you two leering at each other?" I asked in frustration.

"Remember all those years ago, at Sookie's audition in fact, I said if we let her in the band one day I would get to say I told you so? Do you remember that?" Bill was talking to Eric as if they were the only ones in the room. "Well, I told you so."

"What are you two talking about?" I angled my body towards Eric.

His fists were clenched and his breathing was shallow. "All this drama is something you created, not me, not Sookie, not anyone else, you! You did this!" Eric was standing now and I watched both Alcide and Sam tense.

"It didn't take you very long. What five months? Six? I thought you'd last a little longer than that. I mean what's a few more weeks in comparison to thirteen years?" Bill grinned at Eric and I tried to make sense of what he was saying.

I looked over Eric whose body was rigid, fist clenched and his gaze unwavering. "You gonna stay here?" Was all he said.

Bill nodded. "I feel like I deserve a vacation."

"I'm leaving then." Eric turned lightening quick and disappeared upstairs.

"I don't want to be stuck here with you either." I looked over at Sam. "The number Russell left, where is it?" I asked.

"The fridge," he replied.

"Any of you staying here with him?" I vaguely motioned in Bill's direction.

"No, we might as well leave." Alcide shook his head and shot Bill a disappointed look. "You had to stay away man, that's all."

Bill rolled his eyes.

"I'll arrange our way off the island." Sam got up and walked to the fridge to retrieve the number.

"Seriously, you are all just going to leave?" Bill sounded astonished that none of us were pleased by his return.

"You wanted alone time, you got it." Tara spat as I passed her heading to my room.

It didn't seem fair Bill caused all this uproar and all he would have to endure it a tropical vacation. I wanted to hurt him so he could feel, if only for second, some of the pain he had caused us; the pain he had caused me. "Bill?" I turned back to face him.

He turned to look at me. His face was gorgeous, even through all the blood. He smiled assuming I'd be the one who would comfort him. "Yeah, babe?" He drawled with a wink.

"You were only ever a front man. You don't have the ear and you can't write for shit, I think our time away from you made us realize we were all sick of carrying you." His smugness faded and I knew these words hurt him more than any punch ever could. "I hope you have a good writing team supporting you cause you're gonna need it." I gave him a weak smile. "Good luck with your solo career." I stepped into my room and closed the door on him.

I moved forward into the room forgetting what I needed to do to get out of this house, on a boat and on a plane back home. The term 'home' made me cringe. The place where I kept all my things was no longer my home, it was a shell that housed my failed relationship. I was going to have to sell our condo and then find a new place to live. I was going to live alone for the first time in my whole life. Considering I had such a rough go of it for the first sixteen years of my life, I was annoyed the idea of being independent was such a difficult concept for me.

I found my suitcase and started packing. I did a final sweep to make sure I had everything and went to leave my room. Eric was standing on the other side of my door with his arm in the air like he was about to knock. "Hey, you have everything?" He asked me lowering his arm. His jaw kept clenching and I knew he was still bothered by what Bill had said.

"Yeah, everything except my guitars." I let him take my suitcase and move it towards the back door.

"Sam is going to make sure they are sent back to us. It'll take a day or two but we don't have to worry about them." He was ignoring Bill who was sitting on the couch watching _X-Men_ dubbed in Portuguese with English subtitles. "The boat's here, we need to stay in a hotel tonight but we are all booked on a flight tomorrow."

Bill wasn't looking at us but he was listening. I could tell he was still mad about what I had said. He sat rigidly and there was a tension in his neck. It felt strange but familiar at the same time. Bill had always been there but the feeling in the air was different and I felt a stress in my body from his presence.

Two boats came to accommodate all the stuff we had and we were in Rio and checked in to our hotel in under two hours.

"Do you need anything?" Eric asked me as he dropped off my suitcase at my room.

I shook my head.

"Do you want me to stay?" He asked.

"No, I need to be alone if that's okay." I wandered further into the room that was far too big for the amount of time I would be spending in it. "I'm just going call it an early night so I'm not more of a bitch than I usual am when I travel." I smiled weakly at him and suddenly felt awkward he as there. "You should do the same."

He nodded. "So we are going to spend the night apart?"

"I think that's best." I followed him towards the door and leaned up against the frame.

"Cool," he was still nodding his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'll see you tomorrow, Legs." He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes and I closed the door when he disappeared around the corner.

The whole interaction left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Since the moment Bill had arrived Eric and I went from the best we had ever gotten along to the most awkward. Maybe Eric was right. Maybe we should have discussed what would happen after the island and maybe we should have thought more deeply about what effects it would have on all aspects of our relationship.

I watched TV for most of the day, scribbled lyrics when they popped into my head and wrote riffs when they came to me. I ordered room service and was asleep by 9.

I was awoken around 2 in the morning by pounding at my door. I was naked other than some panties so I grabbed a robe. "Who is it?" I asked cautiously. We all had late night visitors before, stalkers mainly, and we were told explicitly not to open any door for someone we didn't know.

"It's me, Sook." Eric slurred on the other side of the door.

I sighed and opened the door. Eric was sweaty, heavy lidded, reeked of alcohol and was covered in glitter. "What happened to you?" I asked moving out of the way to let him in.

"We went to the club." He moved sloppily towards the bathroom. "They had tequila in little test tubes and I drank a lotta of them." He started stripping and running the shower.

"Oh Eric," I shook my head. "Did everyone else go?"

"Just Alcide, Debbie and I." He was naked now and stepped into the shower.

"You meet any pretty girls there?" I asked, mild jealously at the thought of him with someone else.

He stuck his head out of the shower. "I only have interest in one pretty girl and I'm looking right at her." He winked and I rolled my eyes going back to bed. I drifted in and out of sleep till I felt weight on the bed and then Eric's shower heated skin wrapping around me, pulling me towards him.

We slept. For the first time since we started sleeping together, we actually just slept.

Eric was still asleep when I woke up the next morning. He had shifted during the middle of the night and was on his back, no covers were on him leaving him stark naked. His hair was a mess, his arms were splayed and his mouth was wide open while he snored.

I got up, giggling at how he looked as I quietly moved throughout the room and got dressed. I headed into the sitting room to order room service and all the other things that would be needed to curb Eric's hangover.

He woke up when everything was being delivered and I was relieved he had put his boxers on so he wasn't completely naked.

I tipped the waiter and wheeled the cart over to where Eric was sitting. His hands were over his face and he was making whimpering noises. "I'm the biggest idiot of all the idiots. When do we have to board?" His words were muffled.

"We have to leave in an hour and a half." I took two aspirin and opened a bottle of water. "Take these and drink all of that."

He did as he was told.

"Now drink this Gatorade." I handed him the bottle and then a peeled banana. "These will help your hangover."

He didn't argue with me.

"Are you packed?" I asked lifting the lids of all the food.

He nodded, his head resting on the back of the couch.

"Why did you get so drunk?" I questioned. "Do you want the burger or grilled cheese?"

"Both." He replied sitting up as I put the burger on the table and the grilled cheese in his hand. "And because I was still annoyed at Bill and I thought getting hammered was the easiest was to forget." He paused to eat. "It was also weird between us and I'm worried you'll drift away from me again. I get it if the sex is going to stop but I can't lose you as a friend. I can't."

I bit into the grilled cheese I had ordered myself. "I think we should have talked about what happens after we leave the island. I was stupid to think that it wouldn't be different."

"Is it though?" He asked me. "I mean everything feels normal right now."

"Other than the fact that we slept naked together." I joked.

"It's the new normal." He coughed drinking more Gatorade. "Do you want to stop? The sex, I mean, when we get back."

No.

"I don't know." I said instead. "I have a few things I need to do when we get back. After I do that can we can talk about what we're doing."

He nodded again. "Whatever you want." He muttered through the half chewed food in his mouth. "Just don't shut me out again."

I shook my head. "This won't be like last time, I have a lot of ducks and they are not even close to being in a row. I have to sell my fucking condo." I rubbed my face and groaned. "Fuck."

"Do you think he's going to be a dick about it?" Eric asked.

"I honestly don't know. His moods are all over the place. I wasn't very nice to him yesterday so he might make this difficult for me." I stood. "I have to take a shower and repack before we go." I turned my back to him.

"Sook?" He barely whispered.

"Yeah?" I turned back to face him.

"Do you think I can get a kiss?" He asked, his hair drooped over his eyes, his lips red, his muscles lightly flexing under his taut, inked skin.

I rolled my eyes and smirked, walked behind the couch to bend over and place the lightest of kisses on his mouth. "Your breath is terrible." I whispered when we parted before heading towards the bathroom. He was still chuckling when I closed the door.

The trip back to New York was uneventful. We posed for a few photos with fans, Eric slept the entire way back and I watched a few movies dozing in and out myself.

JFK wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. There were many more fans to stop and take photos with than in Rio but there wasn't as many paparazzi as there could have been. We still needed to be escorted out by security though.

Bill had been to the condo since I had left it nearly a month and a half ago. He left a coffee cup on the counter, his coffee cup, it was an Elvis head mug I had bought him in Vegas when we stopped there years ago. He left it there so I would know without a doubt he had been there.

I called Nora and asked her to arrange an appointment with Claude. My roots were coming in and the once edgy haircut was now scruffy and unkempt. I also asked her to get me lists of real estate agents including the one that sold us the place we were already in.

Two days later Claude was dying my hair back to its warm blonde with lighter highlights and we cut it down to an even pixie cut. Claude told me if I wanted to grow my hair back, which I did, then this cut was the best way to start.

Packing up the condo wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I thought I would struggle over every memory and not be able to give most things up. In the end my clothes, jewelry with the exception of the engagement ring and important mementos from my past nestled easily into boxes. I realized I could part with all the furniture except for the royal purple chaise lounge that had been gifted to me by Prince.

I met with real estate agents to ask how we would go about selling the condo and lawyers to see what my legal options were if Bill wanted to be difficult about the sale. I saw two places during the two weeks I was in New York while I organized and put my life back together, one in Chelsea and one on the Upper West Side.

Eric didn't contact me. I don't know if he was just waiting for me to make the first move or if he was giving me space to get my life together but I was starting to feel the itch. I needed to be with him again and it had only taken two weeks.

On the final day in the condo I awoke to a strange feeling. I knew immediately that I was alone in the room but not in the apartment. I turned over to see that Bill's side of the bed was crumbled and had been slept in.

I bolted upright and slowly made my way out to the main living area where I heard the clanking of plates and cutlery. "Nora!" I shouted knowing already that it wasn't her.

"Please don't be a murderer." I whispered to myself knowing the likelihood of actually having a murderous stalker in my place was slim.

"Eric!" I yelled as I rounded to corner seeing the back of the person I wanted to see the least.

"I'm making french toast, do you want some?" Bill asked as he took some eggs out of our fridge.

His face had almost fully healed. He had some slight bruising under his left eye and the cut where Alcide has split his lip was barely a scab.

"What are you doing here?" I asked cursing that I didn't put on my robe, I felt exposed in my tank top and bikini style panties.

"I live here, silly." He chuckled and shook his head. "I'm also making coffee, would you like some?" He asked me as he began cracking eggs into a bowl.

I walked over to our island which was lined with stools. It was where we usually ate breakfast together and the reminder of out past domestication made me feel uncomfortable. "Bill, I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to see you again." I sat down in the seat I usually took as he had added milk and cinnamon to the egg mixture.

"You were angry and said somethings you didn't mean but we can work past that." He turned and grabbed the pot full of coffee which had just finished brewing. "Would you like some coffee?" He put a mug in front of me.

"Bill, I meant what I said." I made eye contact with him for the first time and it was like a punch to the chest. All the hurt and pain he had caused me came flooding back and I wanted to hit him again. At the same time I was looking into the eyes of the man I, at one time, wanted to spend my life with and I was reminded of all the romantic gestures, the passionate caresses and the quiet 'I love you's' which made up our ten year relationship.

"Would you like some coffee?" He asked again ignoring what I had just said.

"Yes," I finally said knowing he wouldn't stop asking until I answered.

He filled the mug and I reached for the sugar and creme he had already put out. He turned himself back to the stove and started dipping bread into the egg mixture, placing the soaked bread in an already preheated skillet.

"Bill, do you want this place or can I sell it?" I asked breaking the silence after a few minutes.

"I already have a new place on the Upper West Side, so you can sell it." He placed a plate with slices of french toast in front of me and the syrup followed right after.

"Do you have any concerns about selling it? Is there a certain amount you want it to go for? Do you want half of it?" I asked putting the first piece of the bread in my mouth. It was okay, Bill was never much of a cook even though he thought of himself as one.

"I'm going to assume that this place has too many memories for you, so you won't stay here and I trust that you'll hire the best real estate agent when you sell it. If you sell you can keep all of the money for yourself or…" He grinned. "You can give half to me."

"Ummm, I think I'll keep your half. I'll consider it an asshole tax." I gave him a bitch smile and put my fork down.

He laughed as he sat down adjacent next to me. "Sook, when I saw that picture of you, with your new hair and you looked real thin. I was worried about you, like maybe you might have lost your sense of humour."

"You never cared." I snorted. "If you cared you never would have left."

"I _never should_ have left." Bill shook his head.

"The band or me?"

"No, leaving the band was the right thing to do, our styles aren't the same. I wasn't happy," He stood and moved around the island. "But with us, I should have worked harder instead of bailing and pulling away. Our relationship deserved more than that, you deserved more than that." He was now standing in front of me and his hands were on my upper thighs. He was slowly spreading my legs and took one final step towards me so our bodies were nearly flush.

"What about Willa?" I asked breathlessly, his lips so close to mine.

"What about her? She was a flash in the pan? A mistake, you don't need to worry about her." His warm breath fanned across my face and for a moment it felt like old times, like nothing had gone wrong.

"Were you with her when we were together?" I was gripping the side of the stool.

"There was a flirtation but no, I wasn't with her till I left you. I promise." He paused. "What are we going to do about Eric?" He inquired.

Bill saying Eric's name brought me back to reality and when Bill pushed his lips against mine I felt my body revolt. The sensation of him kissing me was so familiar, so normal like the thousands of kisses that had come before it but for the first time since we got together, I felt nothing. There was no electricity, no butterflies in my stomach, nothing. I pushed him away. "Stop."

He looked at me with a mix of confusion, rejection and disgust. "What?" His tone had an aura of disbelief.

I looked away from him, my brow knitting together and I grabbed his hands and removed them from my thighs. "I don't want this, I don't want you." I got up and stepped around him. "I don't want you anymore." I let out a small content sigh that turned into a laugh.

"You can't be fucking serious?" Bill shook his head and put his hands on his hips lifting his shirt to expose a portion of his toned, tanned, partially tattooed stomach. It had zero effect on me. "Is this because of Eric?" He spat out his name.

I shook my head. "No, yes, maybe, I don't know. I just know that my decision to not be with you has nothing to do with you or Eric. _I_ want to be alone." I turned and made my way into the bedroom.

"Wait, no, you don't walk away from me. No one walks away from me." He was almost shouting as he followed.

"I need you to leave me alone." I told him with a whisper of a threat in my tone. I found a duffle bag and threw it on the bed.

"Eric-" Bill began.

I cut him off. "Bill, this has nothing to do with Eric, this is all me and my realization that I don't need or want you anymore." I said as I grabbed what I thought would be appropriate for Bon Temps in early March and picked up whatever I could. I knew I could buy whatever I forgot or have Nora ship it to me.

"Where are you going?" He asked me again.

"To Eric's." I lied and I threw a book into my bag.

"No, you're not. If you were going to Eric's you wouldn't be packing." He inched closer to me. "Where are you going?"

"I don't have to tell you shit anymore." I slid into my favorite jeans and grabbed my bag. "I'll be back in two weeks to wrap everything up and put this place on the market. You can have everything other than my clothes, jewelry, my personal belongings and the purple chaise. If you make a stink about it or try to take any of those things I'll take you to court." I threw open our door and realized it would be the last time Bill and I would be in it together. We had spent six years here together.

"Prince gave that couch to both of us." He spat thought gritted teeth.

"No, it's mine. He sent it to me after the weekend I spent at his home in Minnesota or do you just have a hard time remembering stories that aren't explicitly about you?" He stared at me but didn't say anything. "You can have everything else, goodbye Bill." I shut the door behind me and headed towards the elevator yanking my phone out of my pocket.

I hit Nora's name and it rang three times before she picked up. "Hello?" She croaked and I knew I had woken her up. I forgot I gave her the day off.

"I'm sorry to bother you on your day off but I need you to arrange two things and then I'll be out of your hair for the next two weeks." I looked back at the door surprised that Bill hadn't followed me.

"What do you need?" Nora asked sounding more alert.

"I need you to book me on the first flight to Shreveport and arrange for a car to pick me up at the airport." I stepped into the elevator and felt relieved when the door closed officially separating me from him. "But before the car picks me up I need it to stop at the closest Toys R Us and pick up three packages of toys that you'll arrange to be put together; one for a 3 year old girl, one for a 6 year old girl and one for an 8 year old girl. I need those to be in the car when I'm picked up. Can you do that?" I asked exciting the elevator and stepping out onto the street hailing a cab as I ignored the few paparazzi that were hanging out in front of my building.

"Yeah, I can do that." Nora confirmed.

"Thank you." I said as I hung up the phone and got into a cab.

On my way to the airport I texted my brother.

**I'm on my way to Bon Temps. No need to get my room ready, I'll do it myself. - 02/28/15 - 11:15am **

He didn't respond and I knew that was because he was convincing Bridgette, his wife, it would be okay if I stayed there. Bridgette and I didn't dislike each other exactly but she was a Southern debutante. She believed a woman should act like a lady and I was the farthest thing from ladylike.

I hadn't been home in three years and I had only met my youngest niece once. I knew things had become considerable harder with the third baby. I kept trying to let Jason let me help them but he refused every time. He told me that I had already done enough and he and Bridgette could handle their family. Considering I hadn't been back in so long I wanted to make things right with Bridgette.

After confirming my flight, going through security, having three drinks at the bar and a three hour flight, I was in a town car racing towards my hometown.

Pulling up to my grandmothers house was familiar but foreign. Many extensions and upgrades had been added in ten years and while the base was the same, my Gran would have not recognized the house she raise her babies and grand babies in. There were outdoor toys all over the lawn and my youngest niece, Charlotte, came running out the front door stark naked screaming at the top of her lungs as my car pulled up.

I caught her before she could go any further than my car as my driver retrieved my things from the back. "We gotta get some pants on you, Charlie!" I exclaimed as I tickled her bare belly.

"Aunt Sookie!" Two high pitched voices squealed.

I looked up to see my other nieces, Georgia and Josephine, running towards me. Their bewildered mother stood in the doorway.

"Hey girls!" I laughed, crouching to accept their hug as they tackled me, knocking me over, landing flat on my butt. "What are you guys up to? Why is your sister naked?" I asked.

"Sookie, you're here." Bridgette now stood above me and blocked out the sun.

"Yeah, did Jason let you know I was coming?" I asked sitting up as the girls got off of me and ran over to the driver who was carrying the Toys R Us bags into the house.

"He did." She trailed off and looked at the house. "You really shouldn't have gotten the kids anything, they have enough." She rubbed her forehead with her hand and sighed.

I stood. "Are you all right, Bridgette?" I asked her before quickly thanking my driver and tipping him.

She put on a fake smile and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. The girls are acting up today and Jason had to stay late at work. Do you want some iced tea?" She asked always the perfect hostess.

I nodded. "Yeah that would be really nice." I smiled trying to be as civil as possible as we headed to the house.

It looked like a bomb went off inside the house. Toys, clothes, juice containers, cheerios and dishes were everywhere. I looked over at the girls who were peaking in the bags I had brought for them. "Hey!" I shouted and they all jumped away from the toys. "You girls have made quiet the mess in here and I think it's time you helped me clean it up. If you help clean up and are extra good then you can have your toys after dinner, okay?" I asked looking down at their nodding heads. "First order of business, Joe and George, I need you to get some pants on Charlie. Go, go go!" I shouted as they went running upstairs to their rooms.

"For someone as girly as you, it's funny you gave your daughters names that could be shortened to boys names." I laughed.

Bridgette did not as she handed me my iced tea.

"Bridgette, why don't you go up stairs and take a nap or run a bath with a glass of wine and I'll take care of the kids and clean the house." I started ushering her towards the stairs.

"I can't ask you to do that, you must be tired or have so much to do." She walked up the first three steps and turned to look at me.

"I just spent two months vacationing on a tropical island and I get paid millions of dollars for playing guitar good." I shrugged. "If it was a problem for me to do it, I wouldn't have offered."

She smiled warmly. "Thanks Sook, I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it and I'll babysit them sometime while I'm here and you and Jason can go to dinner." I grinned hoping she would see this as a auntly duty and not pity.

"Sook," she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "We haven't had a date night in so long." She came down the stairs and hugged me. "Thank you."

I hugged her back. "You're welcome." Apparently things really had gotten harder and she was willing to take any help she could get.

The kids came running down the stairs passing the both of us as we parted. "All right you guys, mommy is going to relax upstairs and you are going to put all your toys in the proper bins. Go!" The girls went scurrying off.

Bridgette took her alone time and I got started on all the things I know the girls couldn't do like load the dishwasher, vacuum, wipe down all surfaces and get started on dinner. I made the only thing I knew how, my grandmother's meatloaf.

Jason came home just as dinner was ready to be served. After a long hug and a delightful dinner, I retired to my room with the intention of going to my old place of employment, Bellefleur's. I knew I needed to have a conversation with Jason but that could wait for another day.

I put on some black ripped jeans, a cropped burgundy tank top, some biker boots with a slight heel and my old worn in leather jacket from when I was a teenager. I smudged some eyeliner around my eyes, applied some mascara and dark red lipstick on my lips and called a cab.

I told my brother not to wait up as I left and gave clipped answers to all the questions the cabby, who would not stop talking, asked me.

Bellefleur's looked the same on the outside more or less. It had been five years since I had been there and only the sign had been updated. The inside was the same as well except for the stage area. It had been revamped so more than two people could stand on it. Lighting could be pre-programmed and there was a soundboard off to the right. It looked more like a concert venue now than a watering hole for Bon Temps' drunkards.

The place was packed and I could see a bunch of kids on stage getting ready to preform.

I shoved my way through the crowd to the bar so I could capture the attention of the bartender. "What do you want?" He spat at me.

"A beer and is Andy in tonight?" I asked throwing down ten bucks.

"Who wants to know?" The kid couldn't have been more than eighteen and not happy to be working a Saturday night.

"Sookie Stackhouse." I said as quietly as possible, hoping he was the only one who heard me. With my new hairstyle I wasn't as recognizable and I wanted to keep it that way.

He looked up at me with wide eyes as he put my beer down. "He's in the back office." He smiled in awe. "You are way hotter in person."

I winked. "Thanks." I took the beer and headed to Andy's office.

I pushed open the already ajar door and saw him sitting in his normal spot behind his desk. Like his bar, Andy Bellefleur hadn't changed much. He has lost a little more hair and he had a few more winkles but he was still tall, round and surly.

"Do you ever take a day off?" I asked taking a step into his office.

He turned quickly and I could tell he was annoyed that someone had interrupted him, I had seen him make the same movement a thousand times when I worked here. "What did I say-" He started and his face softened the moment he saw me. "Sookie, is that you?" He asked with a small chuckle of disbelief.

"In the flesh," I put out my arms to showcase myself. "The hair is a little different but it's still me." I laughed when he scooped me up into a hug.

"What are you doing here? Eric didn't say you were coming." He let go of me and I took a step back.

"Why would you have been talking to Eric?" I asked Andy feeling my brows knit together.

Before Andy could answer a very recognizable voice from behind me spoke. "In all the gin joints, in all the towns." I turned to see Eric leaning against the door frame with his classic grin on his face.

* * *

**I hope you liked it!**

**Reviews are appreciated if you have the time to leave them. **


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